20-30 gig backup ideas

Well,

Thanks everyone for the information. I have to say, I've never had so many people with so many opinions and ideas on how to do this.

DVD's and CDs are out of the question, for two reasons:
1) Backups have to span multiple units
2) I don't think consumer cd-r and dvd+/-r formats have really been proven for longevity. Sure, a glass master-produced cd lasts decently long, but a cdr? I'm not so sure.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards DLT/SDLT, for two reasons:
1) Backup fits on one drive.
2) Its a somewhat common format.

One thing I am also considering is HP's Ultra Density Optical (UDO). UDO 'disks' are $50 or so each, but the drive system is around $4,000. Also, I'm not clear on if Mac OS X is supported - HPs site says many other platforms are supported by various ISVs, so I have to look into that. I'd think though, if it were a standard scsi storage component, I could just address it as such.

The backups will be stored in an extremely nice climate-controlled room, with its own independent cooling. They'll also be stored off-site in someone's spare room or something.

The data that I would be storing is multitrack PCM digital audio, from a Tascam MX-2424. My idea is to just store the entire drive image (compressed) onto the tape. The drives are formated in HFS+, so I could alternatively just drag'n'drop the files.

Any opinions on UDO?
 
I'd stick with the (s)DLT solution. If your drive took a dump or if drives changed a lot, you'll still find support out there for years and years to come. UDO is, as yet, largely unproven in as near a widespread market as the DLT options.
 
SDLT is a nice, widely used and supported technology. I'd look around to see what drives Apple may sell on their store, as they may have a bundled BRU license. If not, call Tolis Group (BRU). I can give you a good contact there, who can really get the info you need for you. This way, you'll be sure that the drive you settle on is fully supported by the software.

For what your trying to do, go with BRU. I'm not a big fan of Retrospect. I feel the product cripples a great deal of the features of OS X in general and for your data store, backup requirements and price range, those are your two 'main' competitors.
 
kilowatt, Have a look at http://www.synerway.fr/index.html.en. They address your concerns and more.

Go3iverson said:
The real bottom line is the ability to access the data over a specific given period of time.
Click to expand...
Once people will learn that there is a difference between recovery, conservation, and archiving they will learn how to use the backup process correctly.
 
aicul said:
kilowatt, Have a look at http://www.synerway.fr/index.html.en. They address your concerns and more.

Once people will learn that there is a difference between recovery, conservation, and archiving they will learn how to use the backup process correctly.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking in the way that you said that, you are implying that I do not understand the difference between these concepts. The terms themselves without actual retention policies, data storage policies, etc don't really mean a whole lot.

For example, archiving to what? Are we talking online archiving? Near line? Offline? How large can your archive grow in comparison to your overall data storage? Then, depending on those factors, and many others, then decide your backup strategy around it.

My average, full network backup is about 4.5TB, for my servers. Now, disk is relatively cheap these days, so I have a lower speed RAID where I have non-live projects archived, in case a user needs that data, which does come up now and again. That data is not continually backed up, because that .75TB can make a difference in your window of time to get your data properly to tape, or whatever your trying to do with it, for that matter. The archives require special permissions to write to, so this way, I can know if data has been added, updated, or a project is being moved to the archive, then I can add that bay into my backup again. In the case of a project being moved to archive, I can now move the data off of my primary server to the lower speed server and not worry about daily backups of that data, since its not being used.

Some people don't have that luxury of additional storage space. Their archives are offline, probably on tape, in a remote location (hopefully). Again, the remote location comes into play for two reasons. One, if disaster were to hit your primary location, you still have all of your data safely off site and secondly its a factor in your restoration times. You then have to factor in, where is your remote location? Who's in charge of the media? Is it you, where you can just jump into your car and go get them at a moments notice, or is it a company where fees may come into play or scheduling? Sure, its easy enough to keep an identical set of archive tapes on site, but its also not much fun to continually search those backups for the data that your users want! The fun is always the consideration that disk is much faster than tape, but tape is more durable for shipping of site than disk. :)

Of course, you can also look at larger products, such as TSM and Time Navigator, who have capabilities to archive your data for you. Enterprise solutions like this can be set full of variables and storage thresholds, as well as retention times, which will then migrate data for you to different storage pools that you've previously defined, which could be lower speed disk, tape, etc. I'm thinking, though, for 30GB, this particular poster isn't going to go quite that far, though I could be wrong!

Heck, and we haven't even touched on the content management piece that you can throw in on Tivoli! ;)
 
aicul said:
Didn't mean to offend you by what I said. Just pointing out a fact I could not see in the thread. :D
Click to expand...

Its all good. :) It is a question that hasn't been answered by the poster.

If we're simply talking 30GB of data, period, then topics like archiving and such don't really come into play much, as you'd hope your server is robust enough to support that load of data!

Now, if we're talking 30GB of growth, per week, over 10 years, then you have a whole new white board to fill up with diagrams and colored lines! :)
 
its just 30GB of data, every week. So, week 1 is 30 GB of data. Week 2 is 30 GB of data, ammounting to 60GB of total archived data. Week 3 is 30 GB of data, ammounting to 90GB of total archived data.
 
Yeah, that'll be *a lot* of DVDs at the end of 10 years! :)

I'd say tape. Whatever fits your budget that's widely used, like SDLT. You never know, you may be able to find a good deal on LTO even! ;)

Keep in mind (I think I said this earlier) that OS X has no built in ability to write to tape, so your compatability is really at the hands of the software you use. I still say to try BRU out. Low cost, which will let you spend more on your hardware, good company history, good support record and dedicated to your platform. It'll let you also do diff/inc backups as well, which will help.

If your not worried about off site, Xserve RAIDs are nice for backup as well! :)
 
Oh, if you want, send me an email and I can give you a good contact in Apple's Enterprise division, if you'd like to learn a bit more about what's available. I usually go to him for most of my orders/future planning, so I know he's good! :)
 
Go3iverson said:
Hmmm....a programmer? I'm not that big of a company on my own, but send me an email, I don't mind referring out jobs that may come my way. :)
Click to expand...

Would it help if I talked about desperation? Need? And an overwhelming desire to run like hell from the insanity that has become my day job. :)
 
Here is a very low-cost notion:

Get "BurnitAgainSam" shareware. This will permit you to repeatedly backup to a standard (virtually costless) CD-R You can do this weekly. Then, on a monthly basis,you can store this CD in a metallic envelope (such as RAM is shipped in), date the CD, and store it securely off-site, and go back to the regular weekly backup. Then, yearly, you can create a disk image of ALL 12 monthly CD's and burn THAT image to a DVD and, naturally, store that as your annual backup. Repeat every decade creating a new Ten-Year ArchivalDVD.
 
On a similar topic, what is the storage expectancy of data on a hard drive that is not in use? I'm planning on archiving data to SATA drives. Is that going to be o.k.?
 
No. Hard drives are _not_ meant for archiving data. I mean: They _could_ hold as long as you wish them to, but from my experience, you just don't want to archive on harddrives. You want DLTs. Or DVD-Rs (BluRay, HD-DVDs later on) if you can live with duplicating them from time to time (5-10 years)...
 
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