Windows 2000 Server backup solution

[btravis311]

I'm trying to decide on a backup and recovery solution for a Dell PC running Windows 2000 Server, SP4. If the hard drive failed right now, things would be bad. I need a solution that would help me recover it quickly and reliably.

I need a solution that will accomplish a few things:

1) The PC has three partitions. The C drive is close to being full, and I've done everything I know to do to clear out space. What I want to be able to do is use a backup solution to back up all three partitions. Then I want to be able to repartition the internal hard drive, giving C drive a few more gigs. Then, obviously I need to be able to restore the data successfully.

2) The backup software must be able to backup to an external hard drive as well as DVD media.

3) The backup software must be able to RESTORE to dissimilar hardware, just in case we ever had to quickly use a new PC to get the current system up and running in a jiffy.

Currently, I've only researched the Acronis True Image 2010 product, which seems pretty well reviewed. Unfortunately, the "Server" edition is $1200. The workstation version is $90! When such a product is offered as a Workstation edition and a Server edition, what exactly (other than $1000) are the differences. Could the Workstation edition possibly still fit the bill?

Any ideas or recommendations are GREATLY appreciated.

 

[mattbeals]

Why not add a few drives and setup software mirrors? You can always add a RAID/SCSI card to the box and add a few drives to an enclosure. It's not ideal, but it gets you some redundancy until you can sort out a road map for new hardware, new OS and new architecture. Is there something on this server that cannot be replicated/duplicated on a newer box?

 

[maxon]

I see two options really as mattbeals suggested, you either roll up your sleeves to set up a raid or resort to acronis as I don't think there any other reliable piece of software to do the job on a server os.

 

[mattbeals]

Depending on what services this Win2k server is providing you can set up a new server as domain controller and migrate web services, active directory/authentication, DNS, DHCP and other core network services to the new server fairly easily. It's not terribly complex rather it's just time consuming. Heck, you can pick up a simple HP Proliant DL360G2 (a few models old) with two proc's, 4GB of RAM and a pair of 36GB drives for a couple of hundred at most. You can run a fair sized network off one of those. At that price, buy two and set up a scheme to replicate services or load balance services. That way if one goes down the other seamlessly picks up the duties for the network.

If this box is doing more than that then we'll have to get creative.

But really, as was suggested, it would probably be best to roll up your sleeves and get a new server infrastructure deployed. Data can always be rep/duplicated/migrated.

Definitely need more information about the box, its function and the desired result.

 

[prepressguru]

There are a bunch of great suggestions already.

Another easy solution would be adding another internal drive. Partition/install win 2000 on the new drive and copy over all your data. Run symantic ghost and save the image file to dvd. You can use the image to restore your OS whenever it dies or if disaster strikes to another computer. You can then leave the old drive alone as you now have a duplicate. Now for you data you can look into something like BRU Welcome to the Home of BRU Backup & Recovery Software Solutions for Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, Solaris, IRIX, and Windows by TOLIS Group, Inc. and you should look into a external backup device like a tape drive as it would be non volatile.

Good luck

 

[William Campbell]

Keep it simple.

I use a pair of terabyte external USB drives and software called Backer (Backup & Synchronization for Windows - Backer 6 by Cordes Development). I've setup a windows task to launch each night and alternate between the drives, leap-frogging every other day. You could do both drives every night, too, but that seems more redundant than necessary. The software mirrors everything on the server and various other workstations across the network that have critical installs that I want protected as well. It does not copy everything again, only synchronizes (adds and deletes) files that have changed since the last backup.

Between the drives and software, I spent maybe a few hundred bucks. It was a little thinking to get everything set as I like, but now it's on auto-pilot. It e-mails me automatically to let me know if there are any errors each night.

I have the same exact setup at home for my video, photo, mp3 library running on my SageTV server. It's simple, it works, and it's inexpensive.

If the server which the drives are attached to goes south, unplug the drives and move them to another machine. The files are NTFS and ready to go. This approach does not put your vital data into some obscure proprietary format that requires expensive software or hardware.

Keep it simple.

 

[cmcfarling]

R-Drive Image is a disk imaging app like True Image or Ghost. It's relatively inexpensive and works with Win2K Server.