I hope this is the correct forum for my question. My office, about 10 people, is a small part of a much larger organization and we've been told to create and implement a disaster recovery plan. The idea is that if the building, IT staff, or network are not available we can gather in any place that has a roof and, hopefully, power. The "critical" files run to about 4 gig and 4 staff are already assigned laptops that they take home. My thought is to purchase 3 or 4 jump drives, plug them into our desktops once a week, pull the critial files off the network, and send them home to various parts of the city at night. If each jump drive has a full set of files does this sound workable or should I be looking at something else. The overall plan has to be simple and able to be implemented by the biggest computerphobe in the office. Thanks in advance for any ideas you can give me.
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Disaster recovery
- Thread starter Budgetguy
- Start date
The only problem i see with flash drives, is that only recently have they begun to be available in large sizes such as 4GB. Other than that the plan is quite feasable.
Maybe burning a DVD with the 4GB of data on it and making multiple copies is simple. That way all you do is insert the DVD into a laptop and off you go. And should one DVD get scrathced or damaged, you can have 5 0r 6 at only a fraction of the cost of a flash drive.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Maybe burning a DVD with the 4GB of data on it and making multiple copies is simple. That way all you do is insert the DVD into a laptop and off you go. And should one DVD get scrathced or damaged, you can have 5 0r 6 at only a fraction of the cost of a flash drive.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
- Thread starter
- #3
I hadn't considered burning the files to DVD because we don't have a DVD burner on any of our desktops but it might be cheaper, even in the long run, to buy one and use it rather than buying the jump drives. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll run the idea of buying a burner past my boss and IT.
Johnthephoneguy
Technical User
Plus the DVD scenario is safer, you dont have to worry about the flash losing its memory or dying. a DVD doesn't die, yes it can be scratched but with multiple copies I think it is the safer way to go.
Internal DVD burners are now very very cheap.anywhere from $70.00 to around $150 . while the larger flash drives 2GB and 4GB, range from around $90 all the way up to $200.
Since you'll most likely be wanting several of these flash drives you migh end up spending $1000 dollars in flash drives. while 2 or 3 dvd burners plus a stack of DVDs will most likely not pass $500 dollars. You can have as many copies of the information as you want.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Since you'll most likely be wanting several of these flash drives you migh end up spending $1000 dollars in flash drives. while 2 or 3 dvd burners plus a stack of DVDs will most likely not pass $500 dollars. You can have as many copies of the information as you want.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Other than the fact that you are going to end up with DVDs that are full of data but useless unless 1)you get a replacement network up and running to duplicate the server no longer available or 2)you change your laptops to standalone using the previously networked software and data.
You're lucky. Someone is thinking ahead and you have your testbed machines in hand.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
You're lucky. Someone is thinking ahead and you have your testbed machines in hand.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
- Thread starter
- #7
I know some of the problems facing jump drives as I bought 4 smaller ones last year for the office and 2 of them have died so far(not natural causes). The DVD provides as simple a solution as the jump drives and without the problem of the drives failing for some reason. I discussed the DVD idea with my boss over lunch and he is concerned about the on-going cost of DVDs(?). I figure a worse case scenario has me paying about 50 cents each for the DVDs at an annual cost of less than $80 and I may be wrong but I don't see the office using the same jump drives 10 or 12 years from now which is about when I figure the costs of the two options will be the same. That's probably the route we'll go I just need to push a little harder.
Ed: I thought about networking the laptops, but, gave up the idea because if I'm not able to be there nobody could set it up. We'll use them stand alone and pass CDs back and forth as needed.
Ed: I thought about networking the laptops, but, gave up the idea because if I'm not able to be there nobody could set it up. We'll use them stand alone and pass CDs back and forth as needed.
Johnthephoneguy
Technical User
Maybe he is thinking the price of a dvd is like a retail movie 15-20.00.
Another idea is just to use an external HD to store this information on. I usally suggest this for my smaller clients like your company since every dar or week you can backup everyones files to this HD and just either bring it with you to a safe place or keep it locked away maybe next to your server.
A+ and coming soon: Network +
A+ and coming soon: Network +
A 100 DVD+R disc spindel. That is a Pack of 100 DVD+r's costs $24.50. which means a singel DVD is around 24cents. If you do burn all 100 DVD's thats 450GB worth of information. Than can be reused over and over again.
Supposing you burn 4 DVD's every week with the critical data being updated once a week. you have 4 copies of your critical data.
the 100 DVD spindel will last you 6 about months.
You can buy another spindel for 24.50. for another 6 months your spending 50dollars a year on backups. that doesn't seem costly to me. And when compared to a Flash drive that can cost 200 dollars your talkiing 150 dollar difference.
As was said previously flash drives can stop functioning for any number of reasons. DVD's will keep working unless they get a really nasty scratch. And if you have 4 copies. the probability of all 4 getting scratched is really low.
As time progresses you'll have a large ammount of DVD's yes, but you can alwasy destroy the old ones, and archive only 1 or 2 copies for historical purposes. You'll be able to fit years of data in a case the size of a briefcase.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Supposing you burn 4 DVD's every week with the critical data being updated once a week. you have 4 copies of your critical data.
the 100 DVD spindel will last you 6 about months.
You can buy another spindel for 24.50. for another 6 months your spending 50dollars a year on backups. that doesn't seem costly to me. And when compared to a Flash drive that can cost 200 dollars your talkiing 150 dollar difference.
As was said previously flash drives can stop functioning for any number of reasons. DVD's will keep working unless they get a really nasty scratch. And if you have 4 copies. the probability of all 4 getting scratched is really low.
As time progresses you'll have a large ammount of DVD's yes, but you can alwasy destroy the old ones, and archive only 1 or 2 copies for historical purposes. You'll be able to fit years of data in a case the size of a briefcase.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Granted that the data requirements are different but I have 7 of my customers burning on CDR nightly after the data is backed up on an extra drive inside. Kinda get the best of both worlds.
Understand about the standalone requirement. But are there any quirks in how you access the data currently and is the standalone going to look like and work like the network. This for users who probably have no experience reconfiguring software to reflect the hardware changes you will have.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
Understand about the standalone requirement. But are there any quirks in how you access the data currently and is the standalone going to look like and work like the network. This for users who probably have no experience reconfiguring software to reflect the hardware changes you will have.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
Here's another option:
Purchase an external DVD burner (starting from $80)
E.g. DVD RW Drive
and purchase a pack of DVD RW disks (from $15)
E.g. DVD RW's
With this option you have these benefits:
[tab]? Low Cost
[tab][tab]? The whole solution could cost less than $100
[tab]? Flexibility
[tab][tab]? You can attach the DVD burner to any computer with USB to copy the required files
[tab][tab]? Easy for end users to attach it to their laptops and copy back the required files
[tab][tab]? The DVD Drive can be easily moved with the laptops
[tab]? Reliability
[tab][tab]? Unlike an external HD you can make backups and keep them off site and avoid damage.
Purchase an external DVD burner (starting from $80)
E.g. DVD RW Drive
and purchase a pack of DVD RW disks (from $15)
E.g. DVD RW's
With this option you have these benefits:
[tab]? Low Cost
[tab][tab]? The whole solution could cost less than $100
[tab]? Flexibility
[tab][tab]? You can attach the DVD burner to any computer with USB to copy the required files
[tab][tab]? Easy for end users to attach it to their laptops and copy back the required files
[tab][tab]? The DVD Drive can be easily moved with the laptops
[tab]? Reliability
[tab][tab]? Unlike an external HD you can make backups and keep them off site and avoid damage.
- Thread starter
- #13
Happy to have helped. Should you have any other questions don't hesitate to post back.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
vacunita - where have you been buying your DVD drives? DVD burners are less than half the price you suggested at newegg.com - $29 and up... for good brands.
I realize this question has already been essentially answered, but here's some points for you folks to consider:
Of this 4 GB of data, how much changes daily? All? 100 MB? What? The answer to this really determines what the best solution is. Perhaps the solution should be a combination of things. For example, Once a week, burn a DVD with ALL the data on it. Then the rest of the time, setup a script and upload the changed data to a remote site. Using your existing internet connection, this costs you nothing but the script's development time and can drop your DVD count from 5 per week to 1, 80% savings on DVDs. Further, it removes the human element 4 of 5 days per week because the script can be automated. Sorry, but automated things (when properly done) are more reliable than people who get sick, distracted, go on vacation, or simply slack off.
Another question I didn't see asked - data growth. How much is this data growing? 4GB is pretty close to the size of the DVD. Sure, you could get Dual Layer DVDs, but they DO cost more... MUCH more right now... Remember:
I had a comment on backup I used on another site which grew and grew and grew and grew... so I turned it into a web page... you might want to read over it... it's not purely a DR comment, more a backup comment.
I realize this question has already been essentially answered, but here's some points for you folks to consider:
Of this 4 GB of data, how much changes daily? All? 100 MB? What? The answer to this really determines what the best solution is. Perhaps the solution should be a combination of things. For example, Once a week, burn a DVD with ALL the data on it. Then the rest of the time, setup a script and upload the changed data to a remote site. Using your existing internet connection, this costs you nothing but the script's development time and can drop your DVD count from 5 per week to 1, 80% savings on DVDs. Further, it removes the human element 4 of 5 days per week because the script can be automated. Sorry, but automated things (when properly done) are more reliable than people who get sick, distracted, go on vacation, or simply slack off.
Another question I didn't see asked - data growth. How much is this data growing? 4GB is pretty close to the size of the DVD. Sure, you could get Dual Layer DVDs, but they DO cost more... MUCH more right now... Remember:
Because of that, a solution requiring multiple disks is probably not the best option.
I had a comment on backup I used on another site which grew and grew and grew and grew... so I turned it into a web page... you might want to read over it... it's not purely a DR comment, more a backup comment.
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