I will be building a data archival server to backup all of the crucial documents that client's need backed up. I am thinking about going with a RAID setup along with some sort of backup media. Maybe a Travan backup tape drive? A DVD writable drive? Or...? I have a budget of around $700 for the entire server w/ backup solution. Can anybody help me out?
whats the best _budget_ storage medium for data archival?
- Thread starter MrHappyMonkey
- Start date
each backup will be aproximately 200mb a piece. Currently, I have only got one client signed up for the service, but I expect to go it very quickly as more clients sign up for this service. At 1st I would not expect more than 10 or so in the 1st month of offering the service. Backup increments will be done on a weekly backup for certain clients, and only once for other clients.
What sort of budget should I be looking at here? And what is your definition of crucial? My basic plan structure will be something like the following:
One-time backup of entire* storefront data: $39.95/each
Monthly backup of entire* storefront data: $39.95/month
Weekly backup of entire* storefront data: $119.95/month
Optional archival of data* to CD: $20.95/backup
In the type of industry that I service (small business), budgets are smaller, so the service needs to scale to the client's budget.
RAID is not backup. It's data-redundancy, which is different. Travan is not reliable enough for a commercial backup service. Look into something like DLT.
I am aware that RAID is not backup, that is why I said "...RAID setup along with some sort..." What is a make/model of a DLT type drive that I can take a look at? What type of performance and storage ammount is capable with using this type of solution?
edit: I did a Google search and found a couple drives in the $400 range. I asume this is the load end for DLT based drives. Is there anything a bit cheaper? I really can't justify that type of money for the rates I will be getting for this service.
It sounds like you need to reevaluate your business plan. Offering a data backup service is not something to skimp on. Seriously, what would your customers think of your service, no matter how inexpensive, if they knew you were looking for the most half-assed solution in order to save a few bucks? $400 is exceptionally cheap for a DLT backup drive. We've spent $1500 on DAT and it's not as good IMO.
For archival storage, even tape formats aren't wonderful. They are designed for regular, rotating backups that have a short life span. Something like DVD certainly offers the possibility of a good archival storage, but the preeminence of a particular writable format hasn't been decided upon and without some technical stability it doesn't matter if it would last a million years if you can't buy a new drive to read the disks in 2 years.
I've started a similar backup service. Clients send their data to my backup server each night at 12AM over the Internet. I use an ADR tape drive to backup the backups at 5AM. My rates are $20/month for 0.5GB or less of data and $25/month for 1GB of data. Each additional GB of data is an additional $10/month. I'll be storing the last 2 weeks of backups. These rates are in line with the other off-site back services out there. I wish I could get $120/month just for a weekly backup of just 200MB of data like you're planning on getting.
I've thought of the whole backup service business, but I've been wondering about the liability. Do you guys carry insurance? I assume you're working with small local businesses, but even so, what is your liability if something should happen and their data is lost? Could they pursue legal action against you? Just a thought, the backup business is a tricky one I think.
In addition, you have to remember that the competition is offering fireproof storage, 24/7 security, and many additional services. If your price is low and you're presenting yourself as a alternative to pricey storage services, you might have a service people WILL want. But you can NOT skimp on the storage or the medium. You will be held to a higher standard just because of the fact that this is business data, sometimes confidential, sometimes a business really depends on it being there if needed.
One 4/8 GB Dat, while being affordable, is not enough. I sell these drives new for $499 new, used for around $50 to $100 with a tape and the cable. Tapes are around $8 used, $19-34 new. You'll want to mirror to at least three tapes per customer. Even this "cheap" solution gets expensive very fast. Tapes have one more downside, they usually won't work in another drive, even of the same model. While accuracy is getting better, they still do go out of alignment often. Plus retentioning reduces the lifespan of a tape.
Take time to look at the competition, their prospectus should mention the types of medium used.
DC
One 4/8 GB Dat, while being affordable, is not enough. I sell these drives new for $499 new, used for around $50 to $100 with a tape and the cable. Tapes are around $8 used, $19-34 new. You'll want to mirror to at least three tapes per customer. Even this "cheap" solution gets expensive very fast. Tapes have one more downside, they usually won't work in another drive, even of the same model. While accuracy is getting better, they still do go out of alignment often. Plus retentioning reduces the lifespan of a tape.
Take time to look at the competition, their prospectus should mention the types of medium used.
DC
vetteguy, that's a good question. Keep in mind that you're not storing the data, just an emergency backup copy of the data. Even if you lost the backups of your clients' data, it would only turn into a problem if one of your clients lost their data right after that. In that event, I guess you would be liable for the loss of their data. They could probably sue you what it costs them in lost business as a result of losing data that you were supposed to be backing up.
As in the case with live data, you just have to take the proper steps to make sure you don't lose your clients' backups in the event of a problem. Use fault-tolerant RAID on the backup server. Backup the backups onto another medium such as tape each day. There are other steps you can take as well such as keeping the backup tapes in a fireproof safe and at least one off-site.
As in the case with live data, you just have to take the proper steps to make sure you don't lose your clients' backups in the event of a problem. Use fault-tolerant RAID on the backup server. Backup the backups onto another medium such as tape each day. There are other steps you can take as well such as keeping the backup tapes in a fireproof safe and at least one off-site.
Too true, which is why I said that tapes are good for short-term backup, but not archiving.
MrHappyMonkey, you mentioned RAID. Are you looking at IDE or SCSI? Again, for a business situation where customers are paying for their data security I wouldn't use IDE. It's great for a personal system, but I wouldn't dream of charging customers for it and calling it reliable. Hot-swappable SCSI is the best way to go.
Well, by this reasoning you're saying "I guarantee you won'y lose your data unless you lose it yourself". That pretty much makes your business pointless to customers, as anyone who does not do their own backup obviously either doesn't want to/isn't equipped to handle it themselves or needs a second source for recovery. I know you're not storing their actual live data, but if you are providing backup services then you are responsible should something happen.
I would be very cautious about proceeding with such a business until you check with an insurance company and/or an attorney familiar with this type of thing. I agree with your assesment that they could sue you for the lost business as a result of the lost data, and since that is difficult to quantify, you could find yourself with a $100,000+ lawsuit for losing a few megabytes. Because of all of this you definitely do NOT want to skimp on ANYTHING! If you've ever seen a disaster recovery company, they have a hardcore data center. FWIW.
SUOrangeman
Diamond Member
- Oct 12, 1999
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Must the storage solution be that removable? Why not buy ten 40Gb hard drives? Archive one week's worth of data onto one drive (1), make a copy on a second drive (2). Next week use last week's "copy" (2) and the third drive (3). Then (3) & (4), (4) & (5), and so forth.
The storage/$ ratio has to be heavily in favor of hard drives(at least in comparison to tapes), right?
-SUO
The storage/$ ratio has to be heavily in favor of hard drives(at least in comparison to tapes), right?
-SUO
Any backup plan that doesn't include offsite copies, is not a safe plan. It doesn't matter if you use 500 backups of a single piece if data. If they are all in the building when the fire, earthquake, mudslide, terrorist plane crash, etc happens, then you might as well have not been backing up. You could conceivably do what you suggest with hot-swappable drives, but they are certainly not as portable as tapes and far more fragile.
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