Compression Question

[soklear]

This may sound like a dumb question, but, IN GENERAL does using hardware compression speed up or slow down a backup job?

I am using Backup Exec 9.x, with a DLT PowerVault 110t and backing up across a network connection (100 M/B).

Thanks!

 

[Prydonian]

Depends. Hardware compression is generally faster than software compression, but make sure your interface (i.e. SCSI) and tape device drivers are up to date. Your file mix also enters into the equation. Trying to compress a bunch of binary files or ZIP'd files is an exercise in futility....

All this being said, I prefer hardware compression to software....

Mike

 

[stevet3]

I would say to run a local backup of the media server to determine if the issue is driver related. You report a network backup. The remote agent for 9.x and 10.x will compile the data in tape format and sent it to the media server where your tape device will compress the data. Would I would test is from you media server unc to the remote server c$ and find a 500meg file/folder. Copy it to the desktop and time it with a watch. If it compute the time vs megabytes and if it close to what Veritas is running then you need to look at the network. Another option to rule out tape hardware is to run a backup to disk job.