Low cost Windows Server 2003 Backups
October 21, 2010 12:49 PM Subscribe
Low cost backup solutions for Windows Server 2003?
I have been asked to look at low cost backup solutions for a local charity.
They have Windows Server 2003 and the current method, a 5 year old tape drive has died taking at least one tape with it.
If you had to backup 50GB of data three times a week what would you do?
I'd love to recommend a replacement tape drive and tapes but I don't think the budget can stand it. Will a rotation of USB drives do the trick? What low cost or opensource software will do the job? It would need to be able to be scheduled overnight and send sucess notifications.
I have been asked to look at low cost backup solutions for a local charity.
They have Windows Server 2003 and the current method, a 5 year old tape drive has died taking at least one tape with it.
If you had to backup 50GB of data three times a week what would you do?
I'd love to recommend a replacement tape drive and tapes but I don't think the budget can stand it. Will a rotation of USB drives do the trick? What low cost or opensource software will do the job? It would need to be able to be scheduled overnight and send sucess notifications.
What software are they using with the tape drive? If its something like BackupExec it can be set to backup to disk. If the software doesnt support it then you can use the bult-in backup wizard and set various backup schedules. It can backup to disk. You can buy a cheap NAS or three USB drives and set your jobs accordingly. The backup wizard supports schedules. It also can backup AD, Exchange stores, etc if you're running those too.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:07 PM on October 21, 2010
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:07 PM on October 21, 2010
Carbonite- for $50 / a year. Cheaper than hard drives.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:41 PM on October 21, 2010
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:41 PM on October 21, 2010
If you work for a charity in Canada or the US you can register with TechSoup which allows you to get commercial software for very low cost:
TechSoup
TechSoup Canada
Backup Exec 2010 from Symmantec is a pretty decent solution.
posted by talkingmuffin at 2:08 PM on October 21, 2010
TechSoup
TechSoup Canada
Backup Exec 2010 from Symmantec is a pretty decent solution.
posted by talkingmuffin at 2:08 PM on October 21, 2010
Response by poster: They do have Backup Exec but it's an older version 12.5? I read that it's problematic with dismounting USB drives. I guess that's my main worry that the drive doesn't get disconnected properly and is damaged.
Can I run a .bat file as part of a script to disconnect the file after the scheduled job?
posted by chairish at 4:36 PM on October 21, 2010
Can I run a .bat file as part of a script to disconnect the file after the scheduled job?
posted by chairish at 4:36 PM on October 21, 2010
Assuming that hasn't been addressed in an update, then go with the NAS I linked to. Backupexec will store everything there. You don't need three physical disks. Backup exec will simply make a file per backup job and you can specify retention. So you can have M, W, and F and have them as 'no delete' for 7 days.
Or just use the windows backup wizard, its what Backupexec uses behind the scenes anyway. BE is just a more functional GUI for it with some features tacked on.
posted by damn dirty ape at 5:50 PM on October 21, 2010
Or just use the windows backup wizard, its what Backupexec uses behind the scenes anyway. BE is just a more functional GUI for it with some features tacked on.
posted by damn dirty ape at 5:50 PM on October 21, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by deezil at 1:00 PM on October 21, 2010