Backup tape/drive needed : Suggestions?

[contink]

Having suffered the critical hard drive failure on our curriculum server and then discovered that there was admin data shared on there too I've been instructed to get a separate admin server for secretaries and head to be able to use. The Proliant ML110 G5 seemed perfect for the job so that's on order now.

The question mark I have is what to get as a backup for the data. We'll have a fireproof safe installed in the near future so tapes or the equivalent can be stored in there on rotation..

So, any suggestions... and bear in mind that at the moment we have a DAT72 with Adaptec SCSI on the curriculum server which in some ways I'd prefer to swap into the admin server and get a bigger capacity replacement for. Budget is an issue and I'm guessing around £600 top end which has to include media too.

Thoughts, supplier recommendations, welcome.

[elsiegee40]

We're backing up to Networked LaCie HDD secured in a separate building on the site. The building is sufficiently physically distant from the network "hub" in the main building to be considered safe in the event the main building decides to burn down or whatever.

If the LaCie's building goes too then the chances are we've had the equivalent of the Great Fire of London and frankly, everyone will have more to worry about! Needless to say, the backup strategy here was thrashed out at length with our SMT... and involved more than me giving technical advice.

There are numerous threads on here about the merits of tape v HDD and also online-backups. My personal view is that salesmen like tape because they know you have to replace them on regular basis so that you're not at risk from tape-stretch. HDD prices are falling and aren't so attractive to the salesmen!

[dhicks]

The question mark I have is what to get as a backup for the data.

I'm of the opinion that the easiest/cheapest option is to go for twin hardware-RAID-1 mirrored harddrives in some kind of external caddies that you can swap in and out. "Backups" then take mere seconds as you yank one harddrive out, shove it in the fireproof safe and replace it with another. I have such a system at home purchased from these people:

RAID - Central Hardware (Powered by CubeCart)

Which is excellent, but rather noisy.

--
David Hicks

[torledo]

i'd recommend a usb or sas hp storagesworks internal DAT 160 drive....the usb version is going to be cheaper than the sas option, and the DAT 160 has the advantage of being backwards compatible with older tape media e.g 72.

to give you a rough idea 300-350 quid....

HP StorageWorks DAT 160 USB Internal Tape Drive Q1580A - PC World Business Online Store UK - Buy The Best Deals Online.

i've got a sony AIT-i200 tape drive that supports up to AIT-2....capacity is a bit poor but performance and reliability is a little bit better with AIT, trouble is AIT is now at AIT-5 and those drives cost an arm and a leg...AIT-2 will *only* do 80gb uncompressed yet it's more expensive than the DAT 160. But the AIT-i200 is another option if you don't like the idea of going with the hp drive.

[contink]

I'm of the opinion that the easiest/cheapest option is to go for twin hardware-RAID-1 mirrored harddrives in some kind of external caddies that you can swap in and out. "Backups" then take mere seconds as you yank one harddrive out, shove it in the fireproof safe and replace it with another. I have such a system at home purchased from these people:

RAID - Central Hardware (Powered by CubeCart)

Tempting... Only one question though... how much configuration is required to get the drives to re-sync and what's to stop someone from shoving a duff disk in that then becomes primary and fubars the lot?

Just aware that it won't be me doing the changeovers...