Back Ups and What Equipment to use!!!!!!!!!!

[Mathew]

Hello All
I need to start making some hard core back ups. And I was wondering what equipment I should get. I am a single user and working from home I can use Ethernet connection and USB. I would like to have regular back ups and something that is easy to use my budget is £300.

I was Looking at something like this

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3V6Q&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=netgear+storage&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0&v=1
[/url]

[cjd]

I was going to recommend that one - I know a professional web hosting company that uses them!

You need to buy the harddrives separatley tho'

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Mathew,

I use a usb hard drive (Maxtor) and Norton Ghost which takes a complete image of my pc and stores it on the hard drive then id anything disasterous should happen I could restore absolutely everything.

For your budget you could but a couple of large USB drives, a copy of the latest Norton Ghost and still have change left over.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

By the way - see how the link you put in distorted the page?

Feel free to use this free tool I set up a few days ago: www.thematrixx.com :)

It's also good for sending big url's in emails that generally get messed up.

Rob

[Eagle]

*
Eagle Imagery™ recommends LaCie Solutions...

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/family.htm?id=10007

:)

[KM-Tiger]

I need to start making some hard core back ups. And I was wondering what equipment I should get. I am a single user and working from home
If this is business-critical data you must consider the risks of both fire and theft. It's simply no good having a backup device at home if fire or theft is going to wipe out both the original data and the backup.

There was a thread recently about online backup services. IMHO you might consider one of these.

[DuaneJackson]

If you have a decent amount of FTP space (or a Gmail account) you might want to take a look at www.backupforall.com

[Mathew]

Can anyone what Maxtor I should go for???

[Rob Holmes]

I just go for plain old USB drives - no instant backup buttons etc..

Just make sure it's big enough to back up your machine.

Rob

[FE]

Hi Mathew,

I use a usb hard drive (Maxtor) and Norton Ghost which takes a complete image of my pc and stores it on the hard drive then id anything disasterous should happen I could restore absolutely everything.

For your budget you could but a couple of large USB drives, a copy of the latest Norton Ghost and still have change left over.

Hope this helps,

Rob

I use exactly the same and works great with good peace of mind

FE

[CG Effect]

I would use the Maxtor one touch. You only need to press one button and it will automaticly copy all your work onto the drive the second time you back up it only copys files that have changed since the last back up saving alot of time.Check out how much Gb your work is already using and buy a drive big enough to last a few more years. No point buying 200Gb drive if the drive dies before you fill it. If you work from home its easy to guard it or unplug it and run out the door when the kitchen explodes.

[confused]

Hi all,

Just one thing to be aware of, products such as USB drives, NAS, even cd's are TOTALLY USELESS as backup if they are left in the drive, or even left onsite. The product mentioned above is a good product, and has its uses, although it is basically a cheap NAS (network attatched storage) device rather than backup. The idea of backing up onto ANYTHING that sits next to/on/inside your computer IS NOT BACKUP, what if you get burgled? or your house burns down?
sorry to appear so negative, but backups are IMPORTANT, when I was emplyed, I used to do network design/installation etc, and once we had a school that hadnt done a backup for AGES, then they had major server problems, the answer from the IT chap was "well the server had 5 disk drives and it was all mirrored and stuff" which is fine if a hard drive dies, not if your server dies a death.

[CG Effect]

I think the External drives are fine as long as you keep it with you its good for people that work at home. My One touch drive has saved me 6 times this year from loosing 3 years worth of 3D work.

[MidnightCoder]

I backup 8 machines twice a day at work using a simple DOS Batch script. (the NET USE command can connect / map drives to other machines via Dos)

I then have two identical 200Gb USB hard drives that I rotate on and off site every 2/3 days.

3 copies of any Backup is the rule.

1 - Onsite
2 - A backup of number 1!
3 - A copy offsite - in case of fire.

[confused]

3 is definately the way to go, that said, what I ADVISE clients to do, and what I do myself arnt always the same ! I think we are all probably guilty of that.
I have also used scripts to backup onto removable media, more often than not though my customers have tape drives and I basically have a script that kicks in NTBACKUP, even system state works without locking up on 2003 server !
Of course it all depends on the individual, for the home user or small office, pen drives, cd's etc are a reasonable backup.

[CG Effect]

Hmmm Thats gi me an idea think its time for another one Touch drive.

[DarrenC]

*
Eagle Imagery™ recommends LaCie Solutions...

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/family.htm?id=10007

:)


Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I'm not a techy. Do I simply plug in the USB, and use the software to back up my PC? How long does it take to backup the PC each day? The prices are very good on this site - think I've just found what I want Santa to bring me this year :D

I currently backup using a 1GB Sans Disk flashpen - which does the job for the majority of my important files and documents, but I need something that will back up the complete PC.

[confused]

If you want to backup your entire drive, I'd reccomend Norton ghost.

Bear in mind that most of these plug-in ideas are nothing more than a usb or firewire caddy with a laptop or standard 3.5" hard disk inside. You can buy a usb caddy for about £10 tops and put whatever size drive you want in it. I use mine regularly as well as my pen drive.
As for how long it takes to backup, that depends on how much is on your drive, and the method you use.

[DarrenC]

Sorry, what is Norton Ghost? It is software you use on your external hard drive?

[cjd]

It's software.

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/backup_recovery/ghost10/

[confused]

I'm sorry, I do tend to assume a lot !
Ghost basically makes either a direct copy of your drive onto another drive, or creates an "image file" of your drive, this can live on another drive or partition, or on cd/dvd. There are other similar utilites, I like ghost.

[annethedonn]

www.backupmystuff.co.uk

I use these and they're great. Very helpful support if needed.

[Pilfo]

I've just purchased a Maxtor One Touch II external hard drive....Brilliant!!

Pilfo