Small LAN Backup

[Undertaker00]

Hopefully some of you here can help me. In the last few months I have joined on to a small consulting firm and, as I am the youngest on staff and most at home with computers, they have handed me the job of being computer administrator. I'm in a little bit over my head. My question is regarding backup systems for our small LAN. We have 9 systems attached to a simple peer-to-peer network with a basic 10/100 router.

Currently we are running Veritas Backup Exec onto a 30Gig OnStream tape backup. We are backing up everything (including all program files, etc..) which now totals over 45Gigs. We need a different system. They are committed to continuing to back up all files (not just data files, etc) and want to keep the simple peer-to-peer setup (they don't want to go to a file server, etc...).

We are about ready to replace the machine that currently hosts the backup system and don't have a hard copy of the Backup Exec software or any license information on hand (I don't have any reason to believe that it's not legit - it's just that the former computer guys were not well organized - stuff got lost in the shuffle). It looks to me like we'll have to get new software. What I'm thinking of is a cheap and easy solution that allows us to backup to hard drives. I'd buy two or three 120Gig hard drives and back up to them, alternating days so that we have 2-3 days on hand at all times. I figure I can get these for about $300 total. Is there a good program out there for $200-$300 that will allow me to do what I'm talking about, or does anyone have another solution that will give us similar results for $500-$600?

I'd appreciate any help you can give. Thanks.

 

[groovin]

out of curiousity, why dont they want a file server?

And why do they want the entire contents of their HD's backed up rather than just image them from time to time?

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

If they truly want 100% backups, I'd just image the drives with something like GHOST. Of course, it's also a very stupid way to manage backups!

If this were my problem, and the budget was limited, I'd consider a few large capacity USB 2.0 disks. I'd do the backups on one, and change it out every morning. You can take your backup off-site every day and connect another drive to handle the next backup. You can also automate the backups if you're a bit creative...

 

[Undertaker00]

Originally posted by: groovin
out of curiousity, why dont they want a file server?

And why do they want the entire contents of their HD's backed up rather than just image them from time to time?

I can't say I fully understand the reasoning. As far as the file server goes, they've had some bad experiences in the past with employees spending 1/2 of their time managing the network. We're a consulting company - we aim to have each employee (including me) spending 90% of their time doing billable work. Basically we're trying to do it on the cheap with as little tech savvy as necessary.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too. They can either have a secure network with good backup, or more billable hours. I guess you just have to figure out if the lost data or other problems is less expensive than having a proper network and support.