Backup recommendation please.

[denwood]

I'm using Symantec backup exec 12.5 backup software and I'm finding it very hard to manage. We have 14 backup tapes and backup every day and cycle them round the 14 days. The problem we are having is that we have to remember which tape to put in on any particular day. The software doesn't tell us which tape to put in. If we do put the wrong tape in the problem then snow balls because it then over write protects the tape for 2 weeks so when we come to put that tape in again on the correct day it is overwite protected. The worst thing is that the tape wurs round and round for hours before it tells you that there is something wrong. It's so irritating.

I loath this system. It was installed by a proffessional company and cost me over £2000. I think we've had for about 6 months and it's given us nothing but problems. I feel it is completey unuser friendly and has interupted the running of my company.

Can anyone suggest an alternative tape backup system?

[KM-Tiger]

Why tape?

How much data do you have to backup? Is it all on one server or are there several?

[Seal-tech]

There are ways to get backup exec to tell you which tape is required - the other option is to inventory the tape so you know its the correct one.

Other option is to use an online solution - reasonably cheap depending on how much data you have.

[denwood]

Hi KM-tiger and Seal-tech. I think we have about 200GB to 300 GB to backup. All the important stuff that needs backing up is on one server but the software backs up the individual PCs as well.

I have spoken to the chap who sold me the system today and he has now told me that he might be able to get the software to tell me what tape to put in by using an addon. After six months of hassle, he tells me this now. I have told him not to bother doing this. He should have done it in the first place.

I have told him to remove all the copy right protection from all the tapes. I'm also making a vertical tape dispencer so all the tapes are kept in order. I will pull the bottom tape out and then put it back on top after it has backed up and cycle the tapes like this. I will keep this dispencer in my car. I will also stop doing daily backups and start doing weekly only backups to keep the frequency of problems down.

My tech guy has told me that he has sold a lot of this system and we are the first to have problems. I can't believe this. I imagine that a lot of people would have just given up with it.

Seal-tech, could you give me a pointer how to get backup exec to tell me which tape is required?

[Seal-tech]

I'm going from memory now as I havent used backup exec for a little while but you can use mediasets to configure your tapes and then set up your job to use the mediaset. You can also label the tape using backup exec and implement a variant of the grandfather, father, son type solution. Are you doing full backups everyday or differential etc ?

[leemason]

We have online backup customers who have this amount of data and more. If you're interested in this let me know. We can "seed load" your initial backup by sending a USB disk and loading this onto our backup servers. Drop me a line if you are interested.

[denwood]

I think we are doing full backups because it takes 3 to 4 hours to complete.

Hi: Leemason. Do you have a website?

[idtheftuk]

I think we are doing full backups because it takes 3 to 4 hours to complete.

Hi: Leemason. Do you have a website?


http://www.backupsanywhere.com/

thats the websites for Leemason's company

[Stanley_Jones]

I think we are doing full backups because it takes 3 to 4 hours to complete.

Hi: Leemason. Do you have a website?

If you have a website, then Im sure it is hosted with some hosting provider. I would suggest you to contact them and ask if they offer back up solutions. Most of the web hosts do offer this service as an add-on, you would need to shed some extra bucks though, but this would ease your ache of back-ups completely. Depending on the host, you may also get the back-ups customized as per your requirements.

[leemason]

I think we are doing full backups because it takes 3 to 4 hours to complete.

Hi: Leemason. Do you have a website?

http://www.backupsanywhere.co.uk is the web site as mentioned by idtheftuk (Thanks)!

It's pretty horrible at the moment and needs a complete re-vamp, but it's there...

If you want to try it out let me know. The normal trial account allows 2GB of space but I can always increase that for you if you want to do a larger test.