Back up systems?
- Thread starter rande
- Start date
If you're looking for cheap and simple, I used to just use external hard drives and a cataloging program like DiskTracker (DiskTracker).
It was very simple, if rudimentary - I would copy all the jobs onto an external hard drive, then use DiskTracker to take an inventory of what is on the disc. When it is time to pick up an old job, simply type the job number (or whatever you need to track your jobs by) into DiskTracker and it will tell you which device(s) it is on. If the device is online you can even copy it to your desktop without leaving DiskTracker.
I also did this with DVDs before hard drives got so cheap. The downside is that the actual backing up isn't automated.
It was very simple, if rudimentary - I would copy all the jobs onto an external hard drive, then use DiskTracker to take an inventory of what is on the disc. When it is time to pick up an old job, simply type the job number (or whatever you need to track your jobs by) into DiskTracker and it will tell you which device(s) it is on. If the device is online you can even copy it to your desktop without leaving DiskTracker.
I also did this with DVDs before hard drives got so cheap. The downside is that the actual backing up isn't automated.
For Data of our server we use Winrar. RAR backups may be opened or created with Windows, Mac, or Linux.
The program is inexpensive and available as shareware fromwww.Rarlabs.com, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP file , advantages are numerous
1. Unlike a dedicated backup program this can be installed anywhere.
2.Advantage of using a program like this instead of a straight copy program aside from obvious compression advantages of 40 or 50 % is if you should copy to DVD or BlueRay a file with a regular copy program it will normally become read only - this creates a big job if you then restore a database back to original location as you might have a mix of files with some requiring Read Only attributes and that should not be read only.
3. This program is also able to store extra file check information so if a portion of the disk is damaged the data may still be read. You can specify 1% and higher of authentication info - yes it costs space but greatly increases chance of restore should you have a sector error - this used to be more applicable to floppy drives but may still be applicable today with dvd's or bluerays, - I can't say - mine always restore due to above, though I do use multiple redundant backups so I am not limited to 1 chance at a restore.
4. Program is able to backup across multiple disks - more to the point if you don't have your hard disks formatted to a file system like NTFS but instead to a low common denominator like FAT32 you are limited to a few gigs max file size, this program creates multiple files that can read back together into 1 large system.
5. Program has Graphical Interface but also a command line interface so you may create Even Day, Odd day, week or month batch backups. If you choose you can then use a timer on your operating system to institute an automated backup or simply double click the batch file at night for appropriate backup.
6. Program has command switches allowing you to backup open files - Obviously you must use discretion here as the open files when saved later could incorporate additional changes making your backup incorrect. An example of use though would be if you have a DBAse relational database left open at night, a normal copy backup would miss all open files so your Database program would no longer read it if you restored a normal copy backup. If you used the Winrar backup (with switch set to read open files)the files would have been read and the database should thus be able to be opened - abeit in the state it was when saved by Winrar.
7. All above benefits are useful to backup hard disks not just DVD or BlueRay or USB thumb drives.
The above is for Data files - it is not a SQL database backup, my understanding for that is normally there is a way with a SQL database to save a regular text type file as a backup and that file would then be saved .
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For backup of Workstations I suggest a Ghost Cloning type backup - for 512 megs RAM systems or above Redo Backup Bare Metal Restore Solution GUI Backup Open Source GPL Recovery for lower RAM systems or for Cloning from 1 drive to another Clonezilla - About .
Caution Redo backup and Clonezilla systems are great for ordinary file systems, they suck big time on things like mirrored linux drives (I have no experience using them with mirrored ntfs drives) as they slow down to a bit for bit copy and take forever. - for those situations I use the Winrar type data backup and expect to restore the operating system from operating disks if disaster takes out the mirrored drives.
Ken
This is the first I've heard of Retrospect going away. They went back to a private company about a year ago, but I haven't seen anything else. We use Retrospect also and I'm interested in their future.
Brian
M&M Displays
Well-known member
Theirs nothing like Apple's Time Machine, we use this on our iMac's. We also have (4) 10TB Lacie network drives, set to RAID 5
. LaCie - LaCie 5big Office +
Our job folders are numbered, and its just a matter of dumping the folders every day or two (after the job is completed on the Lacie drive.
. LaCie - LaCie 5big Office +
Our job folders are numbered, and its just a matter of dumping the folders every day or two (after the job is completed on the Lacie drive.
joshlindsay
Well-known member
We've got 2 Linux servers (PDC/Data and Backup), a iSCSI raid5 array and 3 rotatable USB drives.
At 1am each weekday the backup server formats the attached USB drive and copies everything from the Projects and Documents directories of the iscsi raid5 array.
Then at 4pm each weekday the backup server runs an incremental backup of only the new or changed files from the Projects and Documents directories.
When finished for the day we disconnect the USB drive to take offsite and connect the next one.
This way we've always got 1 day old data and current data backed up.
Works well and cost nothing but hardware and a bit of time configuring thanks to Linux being open source.
At 1am each weekday the backup server formats the attached USB drive and copies everything from the Projects and Documents directories of the iscsi raid5 array.
Then at 4pm each weekday the backup server runs an incremental backup of only the new or changed files from the Projects and Documents directories.
When finished for the day we disconnect the USB drive to take offsite and connect the next one.
This way we've always got 1 day old data and current data backed up.
Works well and cost nothing but hardware and a bit of time configuring thanks to Linux being open source.
M&M Displays
Well-known member
Our 1 Lacie it set up the same. It automatically backs up another one, basically a copy of a copy. Its a breeze to set up and all done thru the web interface.
Point918
Well-known member
I can't find any news of Retrospect going out of business or ending development. Can anyone verify this?
Have used this software on Mac and Windows for many years and would hate to see it go.
I emailed Retrospect's PR and Sales departments asking them to post status here.
Have used this software on Mac and Windows for many years and would hate to see it go.
I emailed Retrospect's PR and Sales departments asking them to post status here.
Retrospect_Inc
New member
This thread was brought to my attention and I just wanted to jump in and set things straight. Retrospect is not end of life. In fact we had a major product release last November on both Macintosh and Windows in 5 languages. We have a new release scheduled for later this quarter to add some new VMWare backup features and we have more releases scheduled this year.
More details about Retrospect, Inc (the company, not just the Retrospect product) can be found on our website at Retrospect: About Us
If you have questions, please let me know
Robin
Director, Support Services
Retrospect, Inc.
Maybe you can help me with this?
I did a back up last night with retrospect and it stopped 4gb short. what should I do?
How exactly do I compare what it did back up and what it didn't out of 80gb?
Is there a way to reuse these disks if they mess up like this?
thanks for any help.
V
Visualaid
Guest
Crashplan, mozypro
i tried mozypro first and too many problems, never got a full backup and their customer service wasn't what i was expecting.
crashplan has been nothing but awesome, very easy to backup and restore.
i tried mozypro first and too many problems, never got a full backup and their customer service wasn't what i was expecting.
crashplan has been nothing but awesome, very easy to backup and restore.
Retrospect_Inc
New member
If you run another "normal" backup, Retrospect will continue the backup and copy anything missed during the prior backup.
You should check the operations log to see why the backup stopped.
If you want to re-use disks and start over, you would schedule a Recycle backup inside your backup schedule.
You may want to post your Retrospect support questions to the Retrospect forum at Retrospect Forum
+1 for Crashplan, they're great.
Michal James
Member
I am agree with the statement of "k_graham". I also find lots of answers from his post. Thanks for guiding to newbies.
Hanging Scale
Hanging Scale
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If you are looking for new back up system? Then try CloudBacko software for your backup process. CloudBacko provides free cloud storage from Google Drive, DropBox and OneDrive into a large single storage.
> Only CloudBacko encrypts your filenames as well.
> Zero data loss with multi-destination cloud & local backup.
> Backup all your databases, virtual machines & workstations.
> Easy to use, no training required.
> Continuous Backup in the background.
> Guaranteed recovery.
> Keeping unlimited versions forever.
> Clear insights and reporting.
> Free software update forever.
> Only CloudBacko encrypts your filenames as well.
> Zero data loss with multi-destination cloud & local backup.
> Backup all your databases, virtual machines & workstations.
> Easy to use, no training required.
> Continuous Backup in the background.
> Guaranteed recovery.
> Keeping unlimited versions forever.
> Clear insights and reporting.
> Free software update forever.
Last edited:
chevalier
Well-known member
We use carbonite and are extremely satisfied. It is extremely easy to setup and use... and I've had to use it for a recovery before! You can install it on as many computers and servers as you want and you pay by the GB. They also have a SQL backup function that can help you recover databases as well. Did I say extremely satisfied?
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