Computer Data back up media

**ghosthunter** · January 22nd, 2009 09:11 AM

The thought has just hit me.

Currently our office backs up the server data on DVD+RW discs daily (6 discs, one disc per day). Data is just under 1 gig but grows to another 200mb over the year. "Rationalizing" the data at the end of the year removes most of the added bulk so it should go down again to just under 1gig.

I was thinking if it was better to use USB drives or even SD cards to back up the same data? 6 usb drives or 6 SD cards of 4gig capacity. (Why 4 gig usb capacity? Nothing much, just to match the dvd capacity for data.)

Why the random brain fart? Well, usb drives and sd cards has gotten pretty cheap, as low at P380 for a 4gig SD card and price is still coming down. USB drives cost a bit more but not by much.

Why the trouble of switching DVDRW to solid state storage? ... well sometimes DVDRWs might write "successfully" but when you try reading data off it, nothing comes out so it needs to be tested once in a while which can be a bother if the person doing the back up is in a hurry at the end of the day. Also, DVD writer drives don't last forever so it can be a pain when the current drive needs replacing because the server has to be shut down, take out the old drive, pop in the new, turn on the server and hope everything works as before.

Using solid state memory devices would by-pass the need of optical media which also tends to wear out after a number of write cycles. And if the solid state memory devices are more stable, the number of actual back up "units" can be cut down from the current 6 to 2 or 3. The cost would only be about the same for a DVD writer and a dozen dvdrw discs...

What do you think?

**Yoda** · February 4th, 2009 07:39 AM

I've long abandoned optical media in favor of 2.5" hard disks in USB enclosures for my backups. These are for my home backups though, so I'm not sure how much of that is relevant in a "business" setting.

**Horsepower** · February 4th, 2009 10:06 AM

Just get a WD World II RAID 2TB.

**Yoda** · February 4th, 2009 10:16 AM

Well, RAID != backup.

It increases reliability and provides fault tolerance but it doesn't guard against system failures or user errors, eg. if you accidentally delete a file, the RAID is not going to save your day.

**_Qwerty_** · February 4th, 2009 10:19 AM

I uses a maxtor onetouch 750gb external hd for my files..

**Yoda** · February 4th, 2009 10:32 AM

I just read up on that WD product, seems it's a NAS device, ie. over a network instead of USB.

I suppose that could work as a backup medium, it'll be more convenient if you have several machines to back up. My first thought was that it's one of those hardware RAID devices.

**ghosthunter** · February 4th, 2009 10:35 AM

The data volume is small... under 4Gb.

The current server is using a RAID set to mirror on two HDDs. Auto-fallback on boot up if one fails. Also auto-rebuild when a fresh HDD is used to replace faulty drive.

But I still want another level of protection beyond redundant HDD system hence a physical backup incase the worst happens (like a fire which toasts the server). The physical back up is kept in a place separate from the server.

**Yoda** · February 4th, 2009 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

The data volume is small... under 4Gb.

The smallest HDDs these days would certainly seem overkill for this purpose, but you can always put the extra space to good use. For instance, you can implement rolling backups easily.

Like, if you back up daily, don't just keep the most recent backup, keep a week's worth, or even more. This has saved me at least a couple of times when the version of the file in the most recent backup wasn't the one I wanted.

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

But I still want another level of protection beyond redundant HDD system hence a physical backup incase the worst happens (like a fire which toasts the server). The physical back up is kept in a place separate from the server.

And you should.

Doesn't take a fire to render your server and its RAID useless. Faulty memory, viruses, etc. will trash your files and the only thing RAID will do is mirror that corruption to the other disks.

This is not an anti-RAID campaign though. Just pointing out that it's not a backup strategy and that it serves a different purpose.

**Horsepower** · February 4th, 2009 12:28 PM

BluRay Single layer is 25GB. That would be a month's worth of backup.

**Horsepower** · February 4th, 2009 12:48 PM

Store it in a vacuum. Dust could easily attach itself to the data side and give you problems. That's the primary problem with discs.

USB flashdrives claim they can retain data for 10yrs but no one has actually tested to find out. None that I know of. hehe

HDDs can get dropped, magnetized, get surged and die.

Nothing beats hieroglyphics. Someone should invent something that stores data based on that. hehehe.