What do people here recommend for tape backup software?

I'm figuring on a DLT VS80 system, either a standalone drive or a small
library (eg. Dell Powervault). Probably a daily incremental and a weekly
full backup, for a small machine shop. Things to back up would include
email, drawings, and job orders. Maybe 2-4 tape sets, one per week, with
all but one kept off-site.

I'd like to see a verify-after-write function. There's nothing worse than
losing your hard disk and finding that your backups are trash. I want to be
dead certain that the tapes have good data on them.

Re: Tape backup software by Martin

Martin
Thu Jul 10 04:51:00 CDT 2003

Veritas BackupExec is a great software.


"Kenneth Porter" <shiva.blacklist@sewingwitch.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93B41C305BDB9shivawellcom@207.46.248.16...
> What do people here recommend for tape backup software?
>
> I'm figuring on a DLT VS80 system, either a standalone drive or a small
> library (eg. Dell Powervault). Probably a daily incremental and a weekly
> full backup, for a small machine shop. Things to back up would include
> email, drawings, and job orders. Maybe 2-4 tape sets, one per week, with
> all but one kept off-site.
>
> I'd like to see a verify-after-write function. There's nothing worse than
> losing your hard disk and finding that your backups are trash. I want to
be
> dead certain that the tapes have good data on them.



Re: Tape backup software by Kevin

Kevin
Thu Jul 10 07:19:21 CDT 2003

Ken -- most SBS'ers stay away from doing incremental backups. Why? IMO, :

1. most SBS shops are small businesses, right?
2. generally we have to fight (encourage, beat with a 2x4, select your
own..) customers and users to even take seriously the effort of putting in a
new tape each day.
3. all they have to do is to forget replacing a tape one day on an
incremental schedule, and you could be SOL
4. given the right tape media (and you did incate using DLT, which is good),
a full backup can fit on one tape.

So given all that, why even mess around with incrementals? I have my
customers set up with DTL IV drives, and two weeks worth of backup tapes
(labeled Cycle 1-Monday, Cycle 1-Tuesday,.... Cycle 1-Friday, and Cycle
2-Monday ... Cycle 2-Friday). They also have two tapes labeled "Weekly
Offsite" backup.

Each morning a person is responsible for checking the tape log for a
successful backup (I also user Veritas BE 8.6). They remove the old tape3,
put in the new tape, and store the old tape in a fireproof cabinet. One day
a week (usually Monday or Friday), they insert the Offsite tape, make an
additional full backup and send offsite.

-kw

"Kenneth Porter" <shiva.blacklist@sewingwitch.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93B41C305BDB9shivawellcom@207.46.248.16...
> What do people here recommend for tape backup software?
>
> I'm figuring on a DLT VS80 system, either a standalone drive or a small
> library (eg. Dell Powervault). Probably a daily incremental and a weekly
> full backup, for a small machine shop. Things to back up would include
> email, drawings, and job orders. Maybe 2-4 tape sets, one per week, with
> all but one kept off-site.
>
> I'd like to see a verify-after-write function. There's nothing worse than
> losing your hard disk and finding that your backups are trash. I want to
be
> dead certain that the tapes have good data on them.



Re: Tape backup software by Brandon

Brandon
Thu Jul 10 09:27:07 CDT 2003

I use the tape backup utility included with SBS. It's easy to work with and
reliable (once you get over the unattended backups hump). I've tried other
software, but I've not found the added features worth the money for a small
setup.

--
Brandon
IT Director
Office Equipment & Supplies at http://www.presentationsdirect.com


"Kenneth Porter" <shiva.blacklist@sewingwitch.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93B41C305BDB9shivawellcom@207.46.248.16...
> What do people here recommend for tape backup software?
>
> I'm figuring on a DLT VS80 system, either a standalone drive or a small
> library (eg. Dell Powervault). Probably a daily incremental and a weekly
> full backup, for a small machine shop. Things to back up would include
> email, drawings, and job orders. Maybe 2-4 tape sets, one per week, with
> all but one kept off-site.
>
> I'd like to see a verify-after-write function. There's nothing worse than
> losing your hard disk and finding that your backups are trash. I want to
be
> dead certain that the tapes have good data on them.



Re: Tape backup software by MCLTECH

MCLTECH
Thu Jul 10 09:52:50 CDT 2003

I agree with Brandon - use supplied NTBACKUP.

Additionally - most tape drives automatically confirm the data written
during the original write cycle now, so the additional Verify may not be
beneficial. Also - the second verify is adding something like twice the
usage to the drive/tape. I have had DAT drives burn out before their time
due to this.

Cal

"Brandon S." <bsmith@presentationsdirect.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:#P4bY9uRDHA.2676@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> I use the tape backup utility included with SBS. It's easy to work with
and
> reliable (once you get over the unattended backups hump). I've tried
other
> software, but I've not found the added features worth the money for a
small
> setup.
>
> --
> Brandon
> IT Director
> Office Equipment & Supplies at http://www.presentationsdirect.com
>
>
> "Kenneth Porter" <shiva.blacklist@sewingwitch.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns93B41C305BDB9shivawellcom@207.46.248.16...
> > What do people here recommend for tape backup software?
> >
> > I'm figuring on a DLT VS80 system, either a standalone drive or a small
> > library (eg. Dell Powervault). Probably a daily incremental and a weekly
> > full backup, for a small machine shop. Things to back up would include
> > email, drawings, and job orders. Maybe 2-4 tape sets, one per week, with
> > all but one kept off-site.
> >
> > I'd like to see a verify-after-write function. There's nothing worse
than
> > losing your hard disk and finding that your backups are trash. I want to
> be
> > dead certain that the tapes have good data on them.
>
>



Re: Tape backup software by Kenneth

Kenneth
Fri Jul 11 13:19:41 CDT 2003

"Brandon S." <bsmith@presentationsdirect.nospam.com> wrote in
news:#P4bY9uRDHA.2676@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl:

> I use the tape backup utility included with SBS. It's easy to work
> with and reliable (once you get over the unattended backups hump).

What's the "unattended backup hump"? Does that mean someone has to manually
kick this off? Ideally the operator should just change tapes in the morning
and the backup kicks off after hours in the evening.

--
Kenneth Porter
http://www.sewingwitch.com/ken/

Re: Tape backup software by Kenneth

Kenneth
Fri Jul 11 13:26:21 CDT 2003

"Kevin Weilbacher" <kweilbac@gte.net> wrote in
news:#ybs$1tRDHA.2056@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl:

> 4. given the right tape media (and you did incate using DLT, which is
> good), a full backup can fit on one tape.

Good point, might as well do a full every night for this situation.

For offsite rotation, I'm thinking at least 3 tape sets, so that all the
tapes are never in one place at the same time. Given full backups every
night, this could be done with any multiple of 3 tapes.

BTW, tip for disaster recovery: If you need to restore from a tape, first
set the write-protect so you don't inadvertantly fat-finger it. I started
doing this back when dealing with floppy-based backups ages ago. Nothing
like having some over-helpful piece of system software go scribbling on
your backup.

--
Kenneth Porter
http://www.sewingwitch.com/ken/