Can I use any type of tape drive on poweredge servers? 1

[dianaf]

Hello, I am just beginning in this stuff, so that you got an easy question...There are a lot of types of tape drives with different formats and types of connections, can i use any of this types in a poweredge 4400 server? because you know they have DDS, DLT, SDT etc...I just need a simple one for making backups and what about the connection? should I choose a external one or a scsi one or an USB one?...I just need a simple and cheap one that can fit in my server.

thanks in advance,
Diana

 

[MSClusterGuy]

Server tape backup has traditionally been done via SCSI attached Tape devices, the driving factor is the ammount of data per backup session, and the speed at which you need to span it to tape.

1: how much data do you need to back up
2: if it does not fit on one tape, do you require a changer / library
3: Cheap is a relative term when dealing with servers what is your budget??

There are several other backup solutions, check out PowerQuests V2i Technology, this stuff is amazing! you can backup directly to network storage, usb devices, DVD Burner, CD burner, and this also acts as a disaster recovery Image as well!!!

http://www.powerquest.com/v2i/protector/

Drop a note on the points above, and we may be able to help

 

[dianaf]

hello, thanks for answering, after being researching long time my boss decided to buy the cheapest, it is a second-handed unit, compaq 3300 series for DLT III xt, Is it good?...I don't worry about the amount of data, because we are a small bussiness so there is not huge databases, just users and company information. (maybe in the future mailboxes).

We have now, 25 gb of users and company information, but it does not change frecuently, I could make back ups on weekends, so that I dont have to worry about speed. And the amount of data that changes diary is just a little bit, so I can continue using floppy disk for them.

Am I right?

Thanks in advance,
Diana Milena.

 

[NickFerrar]

A DLTIIIxt can backup 10/20GB (uncompressed/compressed) to a DLTIII tape (browny colour) or 15/30GB to a DLTIIIxt tape (white colour).

It's a few generation old but should still do the job, assuming your 25GB of data isn't already compressed.

You should be able to do full backups every night with that amount of data (unless it's millions of tiny files). Doing full backups is a lot easier to manage and restore from.

Otherwise you're probably better off doing differential backups over incremental. Both types require a full backup be done once per cycle (usually per week on a Friday) and then only changed files are backuped up during the rest of the week. The difference is differential will be a cumulative backup so if you change a file A on Monday it will be backed up Monday night. If you change file B on Tuesday both file A and file B will be backed up Tuesday night. This means you only need the last full backup + last differential backup to do the restore.

An incremental backup only backs up the files changed since the previous backup (whether full or incremental). So in the above example if you changed file A on Monday it would be backed up Monday night, if you changed file B Tuesday then only file B would be backed up Tuesday night. This means when you need to do a restore you will need the last full backup + every incremental backup up until the restore point.

The advantage of incremental over differential is that differential backups grow in size as the week goes on whereas incrementals are pretty linear (in relation to the files changing per day anyway).

But I'd still say if you have the backup window available to do a full backup every night then that's what you should do.

 

[dianaf]

Hello!!!!

Thanks a lot!!!!!, I have made the decision, I am going to make diary differential back ups, and full back ups on weekends.

Thank you again!!!!!!
Diana Milena.