skymama 35 #1 August 8, 2006 We have 2 networked computers in our small office. We are looking for the best and easiest way to back them up. Our computer guy told us he could install an external hard drive. That sounds good, but my dad's question is what happens in case of fire or theft because the back-up is right there to get ruined or stolen with the rest of the computers. In addition, for legal purposes we need to be able to prove that we were not able to alter our records in any way once we have gotten approval on docs and backed them up. Would an internet back-up service be the best thing for us? Any other suggestions?She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildblue 4 #2 August 8, 2006 Depends on how much data and how automated you want it. The easiest/cheapest would be a DVD or CD burner (CD-R, not CD-RW would take care of the WORM issue) then just stick them in a safe-deposit box somewhere. There's companies that will pick them up and store them in an off-site vault for you, but that's usually more $$ than a safe deposit box it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idlewild70 0 #3 August 8, 2006 Depending on the amount of info, internet backup can take forever. In my Case i am talking 80 - 100 gigs backed of ne info weekly. Id backup on an external harddrive and store it offsite. QuoteWe have 2 networked computers in our small office. We are looking for the best and easiest way to back them up. Our computer guy told us he could install an external hard drive. That sounds good, but my dad's question is what happens in case of fire or theft because the back-up is right there to get ruined or stolen with the rest of the computers. In addition, for legal purposes we need to be able to prove that we were not able to alter our records in any way once we have gotten approval on docs and backed them up. Would an internet back-up service be the best thing for us? Any other suggestions?-Fish Blue skies, Soft landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Armour666 0 #4 August 8, 2006 depends how much you want to spend and how much effort , you can do any thing from putting a server with tape back up , or put in removable drive and run a ghost batch to back them up. Good thinking of more then just the backing up , seen a few business go under because the data turned out to be more vaulable and imposable to replace then equipment. Storing off site is very important eaven if its some one just taking them home each night. on thing thats important is encrypting the back up data. the loss of data is a serious thing and if you do lose data regeardless of business size you have to report it to all people that potental had ther information compremized. I do I.T. consulting started out doing small and med business.SO this one time at band camp..... "Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #5 August 8, 2006 Right now, I use CD's and bring them to my house when I'm done. I was hoping for something a little more automatic so I wouldn't have to be the one dealing with it every week. Doesn't an external hard drive stay on site? The computer guy was talking about an automatic back-up every day for new data entered.She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idlewild70 0 #6 August 8, 2006 QuoteRight now, I use CD's and bring them to my house when I'm done. I was hoping for something a little more automatic so I wouldn't have to be the one dealing with it every week. Doesn't an external hard drive stay on site? The computer guy was talking about an automatic back-up every day for new data entered. I also use an Iomega rev drive system. It is an external hardrive with removable 35 gb harrdrives. It comes with software that allows for automatic backup. You can do a full backup on fridays and an incremental back up every other day.-Fish Blue skies, Soft landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #7 August 8, 2006 You can do clusters of hard drives that you basically rotate them once a day. ! would be stored off site and some onsite, but thats still a manual process that someone has to come and get the hard drive and them move it. Issue with hard drives is they are mechanical and can break at any time. DVD or Tape could work but thats usually a good bit of money to have someone come pick it up every day and store it. How much data are you backing up? Thats going to decide if internet back ups will work. Jerm on here has a company that does the exact thing you are thinking about over the internet if you are intersted. Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #8 August 8, 2006 How about a cron job to tar your user files evernite to another machine? Oh, wait, this isnt unix is it... never mind...Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #9 August 8, 2006 The computer guy told me we have 60g between the 2 computers, but it took about 8 years to get that much. Daily, there isn't a lot of stuff I input, it's just basic office xp docs and some accts. payable for the most part.She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildblue 4 #10 August 8, 2006 QuoteHow about a cron job to tar your user files evernite to another machine? Oh, wait, this isnt unix is it... never mind... "at" and "gzip" .... *nix snob Quote The computer guy told me we have 60g between the 2 computers, but it took about 8 years to get that much. I'd make two massives backups with removable drives, keep them in safe, seperate places. From the little volume you do, then the internet backup wouldn't be a bad idea - quick, easy, automatic. Just don't forget about it - automatic is great when it works, but when it doesn't, sometimes you don't realize it.it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #11 August 8, 2006 Quote Right now, I use CD's and bring them to my house when I'm done. I was hoping for something a little more automatic so I wouldn't have to be the one dealing with it every week. You can get a mid-capacity automated tape drive that takes care of all the work. Make 3 copies. 2 on site, one of them secure in a fire proof box and 1 secured off site. That's what I did when I was doing sys-admin work. Then again, I was backing up 8 critical servers.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel99 151 #12 August 8, 2006 If you are fitting your data on a CD easily then I suggest off site internet backup - as you mentioned only 2 pc's with some documents and accounts. We backup online (4 pc's) a 4GB account costs us around £15 per month. It is totally painless and we have used their restore once for a single file - it worked very well. One thing to be careful of is that their automatic settings for files may not match your needs (our services default kept 1 revision of the file).Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simplyputsi 0 #13 August 8, 2006 We use iron mountain. They are an off site vault that stores our weekly backup tapes and monthly tapes. We have a drive in back that backs up everynight, but it stays on site. I don't know how much the iron mountain thing is, I don't pay the bills I just process the tapes to give to them. Seems pretty easy though.Skymama's #2 stalker - Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idlewild70 0 #14 August 8, 2006 QuoteWe use iron mountain. They are an off site vault that stores our weekly backup tapes and monthly tapes. We have a drive in back that backs up everynight, but it stays on site. I don't know how much the iron mountain thing is, I don't pay the bills I just process the tapes to give to them. Seems pretty easy though. Irom Mt is very expensive, especially for retrival afterwards.-Fish Blue skies, Soft landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #15 August 8, 2006 If you have a Diaster Recovery budget of a few hundred thousand Iron Mountian is great. For CD size back ups I'd go online with monthly complete back ups to a Hard drive. PM Jerm and ask his prices.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #16 August 8, 2006 Quote Our computer guy told us he could install an external hard drive. That sounds good, but my dad's question is what happens in case of fire or theft because the back-up is right there to get ruined or stolen with the rest of the computers. A networked external hard drive can be tucked away to make theft less likely, but fire still looms high. Is this 60g comprised of thousands of files that keep getting created, or might you have a massive database file that keeps getting altered. A friend of mine only has 5g, but 95% of it is a single file, so even an incremental backup is 5g, too large to back up over the net. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #17 August 8, 2006 We're homebuilders, so it is mostly different files for every customer. A lot of it is the same templete files altered for each customer and then the typical Outlook files and accounting files.She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nathaniel 0 #18 August 8, 2006 Most external hard drives are portable, if you had 2 you could take each one in every other week and leave the other in a safe spot. Hard drives aren't necessarily the brightest backup storage medium, tho, because a hard drive doesn't have a longer lifetime than what your original medium is (another hard drive in the computer). External hard drives are susceptible to damage from rough treatment. On the plus side, they are relatively cheap at less than $100 each for your storage requirements. Tape media are designed to last longer than HDDs...the downside is tape drives can be a little harder to setup unless you have ready access to a techie, and they're a bit more expensive--they tend to be geared for storage capacities much greater than your needs. You'd look to spend around $1000 bucks for an entry level tape drive plus a few bucks for each of the tapes.My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #19 August 8, 2006 i prefer hdd to tape because it's easy to verify the contents. Of the small percentage that do good backup policy to tape, an even smaller percentage ever check, and I've seen bad lots of tape where nothing was written. Are all of the customer files still active? If you're not still working on case files from 3 years ago, they can be offlined for good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #20 August 8, 2006 QuoteAre all of the customer files still active? If you're not still working on case files from 3 years ago, they can be offlined for good. No, but I still need access to them sometimes. For example, I had to look up the roof color today of a house we built 3 years ago.She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerm 0 #21 August 9, 2006 QuoteQuoteAre all of the customer files still active? If you're not still working on case files from 3 years ago, they can be offlined for good. No, but I still need access to them sometimes. For example, I had to look up the roof color today of a house we built 3 years ago. I can get you set up with internet-based backup. Data gets encrypted before it leaves your computer and stored in a secure hosting facility in either jacksonville or NYC (or both if you're really paranoid ). it's available to you at any time, no digging through tapes, no carrying hard drives home. once you tell the program what to back up it's all automated and reports get emailed to you. PM me if you're interested. Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #22 August 9, 2006 You should consider off site backup via the internet to a dedicated backup server, you may wanna use periodic backup vs. virtual the idea being if something goes bad on the primary you can stop the backup of corrupted info before both servers have the same problem. Alot of clients would rather lose a days worth of work than to be out of business for a few days. Virtual backup is great but filled with problems. GIGO Once again I am speaking on the basis of what alot of smaller firms can afford. If you want XO hosting, IVR, etc., call me I am a rep for them Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #23 August 9, 2006 QuoteIf you want XO hosting, IVR, etc., call me I am a rep for them You're speaking a language I don't understand.She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #24 August 9, 2006 XO - XO communicaitons Just PM Jerm and be done with it. Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #25 August 9, 2006 QuoteJust PM Jerm and be done with it. Fine...you don't have to be so bossy about it though. She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
