External Hard Drived

[lduke]

Hi all

 

I'm looking at buying new external hard drives to backup up our server to, at the moment i'm using Freecom and OMG they are failing miserably, 1 drive is dead already! I was wondering, what are the best external hard drives to use for backing up a server?

 

Thanks in advance

Much appreciated!

 

Duke

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

I'd suggest using either Seagate or Western Digital Hard Drives for an external backup solution.

 

What software are you using for the backups?

[lduke]

HI tom

 

I'm using NTBackup, I've tried Symantec Backup Exec but that's just refusing to work for me Thanks for your response.

 

BTW the bespoke PC's you guys build are fantastic!

 

Cheers

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

With you using NTBackup, I'd check the drive specifications carefully.

 

I don't think you'll be able to use any SATA3 Hard Disks, and possibly unable to use USB3 external drives, due to the Hard Disks using the Advanced Disk Format (ie. over 512 bytes per sector). I know that Backup in Server 2k8R2 cannot support this type of hard disk, so it'd be best to check on the specifics before you commit to any purchase.

[lduke]

Hi Tom

 

I'm pretty sure you can use USB 3.0.. I've used USB 3.0 on Server 2k8R2 before and works great?

 

Thanks

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

*Grins* That's where it gets "interesting" (along the lines of 'May you live in interesting times!'..

 

If you've a USB3 caddy with an non-ADF disk (normally SATA-2, under 2TB in size), yes you can..

 

But looking at USB3 "branded" external disks.. most seem to be using SATA3 Disks.. which are ADF disks, which will cause Backup to throw it's toys out of the pram..

[mac_shinobi]

*Grins* That's where it gets "interesting" (along the lines of 'May you live in interesting times!'..

 

If you've a USB3 caddy with an non-ADF disk (normally SATA-2, under 2TB in size), yes you can..

 

But looking at USB3 "branded" external disks.. most seem to be using SATA3 Disks.. which are ADF disks, which will cause Backup to throw it's toys out of the pram..

 

ADF - what is that ?

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

Advanced Disk Format (4k bytes per sector)

[mac_shinobi]

Advanced Disk Format (4k bytes per sector)

 

Can't you format the drive to have so many bytes per sector or am I thinking of something else that won't help either way ?