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scsi vs ide backup tape device using ntbackup

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MCSLOY

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Jun 7, 2007
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I was wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of performance they get when using ntbackup and a scsi tape backup device. I recently installed a sony ait 20/52GB IDE using ntbackup on a customers server and performance is approx 9GB per hour. Any recommendations?Thanks for reading.
 
MCSLOY,

I doubt there would be THAT much difference in speed to offset the cost of a SCSI host controller and new tape drive. Recently the cost drop of HDDs make them a better alternative to tape, and tape's slow and sequential read/write can't compare to internal or external (USB or FW) IDE or SATA drives.

The only advantage of tape that I can see is it's a good way to archive and take media off-site, but hard drives are cheap enough that multiple drive solutions are fast, practical and affordable. For archiving, you can spool off DVDs, it sounds like your storage needs are not very high.

I would also recommend using SBSBackup instead of NTBackup, it's really just an automated routine of NTBackup. I have had the pleasure (really!) of recovering an SBS server from SBS backup after an OS array crash, I used an internal IDE HDD and it was fast and flawless.

My backup plan:

(1) Internal IDE HDD (160GB) partitioned into B: Backup (SBSBackup run nightly) and R: ASR...run weekly just in case.

(3) 100GB USB drives that I rotate daily with both SBSbackup on one partition plus file-copy & Exchange Store backup using SyncBackSE for quick recovery of deleted or overwritten files on another partition. One drive stays with me at all times.

Yes, this is probably overkill, but I am the paranoid type. For everyday disaster recovery, the internal IDE will work fine, but in the event of fire, flood, theft or hurricane I also have the USB 2.0 drives. They are 2.5" laptop drives in cases built by me that get their power over USB.

As I mentioned, I had an occasion when I needed to recover from SBSBackup, it was so smooth and easy that I am very confident in the tool. It takes about 70 minutes to backup my entire server (about 40GB of data) using SBS backup (including verify) to the IDE HDD, and 4 hours or so to do the USB drives with SBSBackup & SyncBack, IDE runs at 9:00pm the USB at 1:00 am.

I augment this with yearly archiving to DVD, usually one for each user's files, spanning DVDs if necessary. I am confident in this plan, but not cocky! There is still the possibility of mainboard failure so I like having the SyncBackSE file copy backup as well as SBSBackup. Hope this helps.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
Hi Tony

Many thanks for your reply. I too have thought about using usb harddisks instead of tape since it is quicker and cheaper than tape, but after a quick google, the combination of sbsbackup usb harddisks appears to be unreliable or does not work at all.Have you had any problems with this combo?

Thanks

Martin
 
Martin,

I received the advice to use USB drives from a good source, 's Marina Roos and Mariette Knapp.

I could not find the exact post where one of the above-mentioned SBS MVPs recommended a 3-USB-drive backup plan, but I think it may be under the subscription-only section.

Here's one forum post I found:

...and there are many more, this site is an excellent resource.

The one procedure I failed to mention is to be sure to "Safely Remove Hardware" to stop the drives before removal. Some users might advise against using laptop drives and USB-power-only drives, but mine have been in daily service since 8/2005 and not a single problem.

These drives do not get super-careful treatment, either. I have a padded zippered case that came with the housing, and a bubblewrap envelope that I place it in, but the offsite drive lives in my backpack which, while not being thrown about, does not get special care and has taken a few nasty spills in the past. I think that laptop drives are more robust for travel.

Like I mentioned, for speed's sake I like to have a local IDE drive as my main backup, and only use the USB for off-site purposes. I have never done a recovery via USB.



Tony

Users helping Users...
 
I'm also using SBSBackup. I need to backup 120 GB and growing fast.
The problem is that SBSBackup only makes full backups everyday so at 120 GB a day i need some serious disk space.
I am however considering using BackupExec to do weekly full backups and daily incrementals saving some disk space.

 
maya14,

Those full SBSbackups are the key to recovering a full installation. 500 GB drives are less than $100 and will hold you for a long time. How would daily incrementals save space? There would still be the original file...

The only advantage I see to using BackupExec is it can restore to new hardware, that's why I use the file-copy software too. It does incrementals, but the original files are still there taking up space.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
So if i backup 120 GB everyday i will need min 600 GB per week!!!
Also i need to keep backups for at least 14 days and 1 set of backups off site.What backup strategies are others using?
We use SQL and Exchange.
It seems i will end up with 4 x 750 GB hard drives.
Any other suggestions??
 
MCSLOY...
With an AIT 3 (SCSI) at a couple of clients, I get just under 1 Gig per minute on raid equipped servers which are 5 years old, Win 2000, with Backup Exec, never tried it with Ntbackup. The newer AITs are at least double the speed spec wise.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial
 
Just remember...for what it's worth...that according to ShackDaddy in thread1690-1456898, tape backup will no longer be supported in SBS2008. Hard-disk backup will be the default option. So, if your upgrade path includes SBS2008, you might not want to invest in 32-bit software (Backup Exec) or a tape drive at this point.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
Just purchase 14 250 GB external SATA drives and use them at your rotation. Only keep 2 drives at any given time on site.

A good product is at CRU Data port. It uses standard SATA drives via USB 2 and you can hotswap them. It will work with SBS Backup.

A more expensive option could be something from cybernetics in the misan line that is D2DT.
 
Agree with Mofusjtf, CRU makes some nice mobile carriers.

If you have raid 1 for the OS/program files, definitely get a spare drive and swapout one of the mirrors for an instant recovery disk (unless you have a complicated AD network).

........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial
 
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