Need a backup solution for Server 2003 with 10TB of data

[topchoiceweb]

Hi,

We have about 10TB of data that we regularly need to have access for. We need to access it for about a year after it was created.

I am looking for a backup solution for this data. If we lose any of it, it would be very devastating.

We are running windows server 2003. And currently, all the data is housed on external hard drives that are shared drives on the server.

We are a small business, and don't have a huge amount of money to spend on hardware, or software.

 

[office politics]

online backup - sungard has 7u shelfs available for cheap. you need to purchase the server and maintain it.

perform an inital copy in house. then relocate the server in the shelf. setup replication between the local server and remote server. Double take, ca xosoft, linux rsync are replication software

disk to disk - buy a big honk-a-donk removable drive. copy data to it. take offsite every night.

 

[topchoiceweb]

okay, a data backup over the internet is nearly impossible. our current location only have 1.5MB down and 768K up. That is thr FASTEST we can get at the location. it sucks. Besides, we add about 5GB a day of data to the server. they are all photo or video files.

disk to disk, using what software? what is good and affordable? and using an external drive? Should I use several drives to cover the 10TB of data?

 

[kmote]

The first thing you need to do is change the way your live data is stored, you need a RAID of one kind or another. For example most SATA drives are only specified for an average 11TB before you get an unrecoverable bit, so you could have lost some of your data already without realising it.
In this case the best solutions will cost money.

 

[Lexluethar]

RAID would be the simplest solution and cheapest.

After you have a RAID setup I would look into tape backup in order to have some type of offsite storage solution incase of a natural disaster or something happening to the building that has the server.

 

[topchoiceweb]

What type of RAID? raid 5? Should I use internal or External drives for the RAID array? hardware or software RAID?

 

[office politics]

RAID would be the simplest solution and cheapest.

After you have a RAID setup I would look into tape backup in order to have some type of offsite storage solution incase of a natural disaster or something happening to the building that has the server.

how long would it take to restore 10TB from tape?

disk to disk = quicker restores.

 

[topchoiceweb]

okay, so you are saying to use something like a NAS?

 

[office politics]

it is harder to take a nas offsite.

I'd look into removable drives.

something like this...this is just first hit on yahoo

DataDock II 1TB Removable Drive Module & Carrying Case DDQM-1000

 

[topchoiceweb]

and hook up 10 of them and swap them out? ****... my job is gonna suck...