Need backup solution for home business

[Dorkenstein]

I need to get a backup solution established for my father's business. We have a G4 mac with several external drives and a laptop with several external drives. The clutter is bad, and we have too little drive space also. Pictures going back several years need to be backed up.

My father doesn't trust online backup, but he agrees that we need to fix this problem. I am talking him into getting something with eSata instead of USB 2.0 to save time, but we haven't settled on anything yet.

Can some people help me to find a solid (least margin of error/loss) solution that we can use on our network and that can hold at least 1tb? I'm actually thinking 2tb. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Denithor]

Start here.

 

[Binky]

For a relatively small backup, you should really reconsider online backup. I'm a fan of Amazon's S3 service combined with Jungle Disk. Amazon charges $0.15 per GB per month for storage, and relatively immaterial fees for reads/writes (once the data is up, only the cost/GB matters). One terabyte would cost $15/month. Yes, this is a LOT more than others charge (e.g. Mozy unlimited @ $5/month), but if you don't trust online backup companies...this may be worth looking into. Amazon should be here for a while.

http://jungledisk.com/

In my opinion, the biggest problem with backups is me/you/us. People screw it up. Online backup takes some of the human error out of the equation.

 

[RebateMonger]

Are you looking for a "file server" to store your data? Or are you looking for a backup system? Or both? I know your topic says "backup solution", but then you mention "clutter" and "too little drive space".

If all you want is to automatically back up your Macintoshes, you can use any external hard drive or NAS with a 2 TB capacity, combined with "Time Machine" software installed on the Macs.

If you want a "file server" for your files, plus you want to back up your Macs, you can combine an HP "Windows Home Server" (as a file server) with the Mac's Time Machine software (for backing up the Macintoshes themselves).

With WHS combined with Time Machine on your Macs, you could:
1) Create a networked file server with the ability to expand up to 8 TB (non-redundant) with four 2 GB hard drives. Later expansion is just a matter of inserting a new drive.
2) Make automated backups of your Macintoshes (Time Machine) and any Windows PCs.
3) If you want disk redundancy on your WHS file server, you can enable folder redundancy for the folders containing important data. This will use up twice as much disk space (similar to RAID 1) but will ensure that there are copies of every important file on two different disks.

Note that any server, even with redundancy enabled IS NOT "Backup". You'd want to back up important data using online storage or external USB or eSATA drives. One way to do this is to have a 2 TB eSATA hard drive that you can connect to the HP WHS box for periodic external backups.

 

[elconejito]

I have a good friend who is a photographer and he's been looking for a good solution for years now. He does events and weddings and comes back with gigs and gigs and gigs of images from each shoot (raw photos, some insane # of megapixels). Plus edits, composites, multiple versions, etc. Anyway, his solution was to just fill up a hard drive to capacity (or nearly). Make a duplicate of the drive. Store one at home, and another offsite like at his parents. Needless to say, this isn't very efficient. If he needed to go back and get a photo he'd have to figure out which drive it was on, hook it back up in an enclosure or in the computer itself, etc. But... it works.

online storage isn't really feasible for him since it takes so long to upload (not to mention tying up his bandwidth), plus the cost of hundreds of gigs (probably TBs at this point).

So in the short term, his next project that I'm giving hima hand with is just a little fileserver, with 2 1TB drives in RAID1. Just for the recently stuff to keep it handy. I suspect he'll then take the two drives and store them like he has the others.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Some good stuff here, thanks. RebateMonger, are you saying that Time Machine can back up to a Windows Home Server? And which model of HP Home Server am I looking for? Thanks again.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: Binky
For a relatively small backup, you should really reconsider online backup. I'm a fan of Amazon's S3 service combined with Jungle Disk. Amazon charges $0.15 per GB per month for storage, and relatively immaterial fees for reads/writes (once the data is up, only the cost/GB matters). One terabyte would cost $15/month. Yes, this is a LOT more than others charge (e.g. Mozy unlimited @ $5/month), but if you don't trust online backup companies...this may be worth looking into. Amazon should be here for a while.

http://jungledisk.com/

In my opinion, the biggest problem with backups is me/you/us. People screw it up. Online backup takes some of the human error out of the equation.

$.15/GB comes to $150/TB.

 

[Jumpem]

My solution now is 4 1TB drives. I keep two in my PC which are synced daily. I keep two external, and back up to them every week or two.

I want to get a safe deposit box to keep one of the externals in.

 

[taltamir]

backups should be targetted at SPECIFIC forms of failure.
A RAID6 array is great for preventing dataloss from drive failure - i recommend a self built NAS running opensolaris
Offsite backup is great in the case of a fire or other disaster - I recommend online backup like amazon.
Physical media like DVDs are great in case of theft, thieves will steal the fileserver, USB drives, and any other electronic... but a used DVD-R is of no real value to them.

 

[Binky]

Originally posted by: Jumpem
$.15/GB comes to $150/TB.

Human error, system failure, theft, or fire means complete loss for an on-site backup. Competitors like Mozy are MUCH cheaper, but the OP stated a mistrust of online backups, hence the S3 suggestion.

 

[elconejito]

An alternative to online backups is to build two servers. Keep one in the office and the other at home/parents/kids/cousin/friend's house. While the cost of online backups has come way down in the last year or two, it is still expensive if you have a lot of data.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: elconejito
An alternative to online backups is to build two servers. Keep one in the office and the other at home/parents/kids/cousin/friend's house. While the cost of online backups has come way down in the last year or two, it is still expensive if you have a lot of data.

and hook up your parents/friend/kid with 20/20 mbps fios and same for office. and you got offsite backup.

alternatively... burn dvds / blu ray disks... and put them in a safe in a bank.

 

[elconejito]

Originally posted by: taltamir
and hook up your parents/friend/kid with 20/20 mbps fios and same for office. and you got offsite backup.

Hey, I never said it would be *fast*

Originally posted by: taltamir
alternatively... burn dvds / blu ray disks... and put them in a safe in a bank.

Always a good option, but man those disks pile up quick. Maybe a blu-ray burner....?