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Substitute USB HDD backup for Tape ?

By gbhall · 5 replies
Jun 17, 2005
  1. The server I am responsible for at work has gone through 3 DAT24 drives (HP) in six years, and I am told by experts this is not exceptional. Now I have a new server and already the DAT72 drive is behaving oddly with refusal to eject at times. (dont know the make, it is a Dell server, so could be anything really)

    Would anybody care to comment from their experience of substituting backup to USB drives of say 180Gb, with further backup from there to tape with less reliance on 100% availabilty? I believe the backup software will support this approach - it is BackupExec 9.1 What might be the pros and cons?
  2. Tedster


    I'd go with a backup internal hard drive , not USB. USB is too slow.
  3. gbhall

    gbhall TechSpot Chancellor Topic Starter Posts: 2,419   +77

    Internal or USB drive

    Fair enough, maybe a little slower, but at 480Mbits/sec USB2 is certainly fast enough, and an external drive has other advantages, like being able to swap the media (even if you do need a screwdriver to do it), so unlimited in capacity, plus able take a copy off-site for secure storage, archival purposes etc.

    Actually, I would probably back-up overnight to HDD/USB for the certainty of getting a result, then plonk it to tape during the day, both to ensure I see any tape problem and also for off-site storage every night.

    I might even have two USB drives, take one home every night, and restrict tape backup to weekly full, instead of the current slightly complicated father-son incrementals every day, with a role-over set when the first is full.

    I currently achieve a capability of full restore for every day of the last 6 months, restore of a weekly set for 18 months, and of a year-end for 7 years, but it takes a fair number of tapes and a disciplined person to operate.
  4. Tedster


    well that's fine if you plan to remove the media, but you can get internal, removable hard drives. I know, the military has them. I work in an Army unit, where the hard drives are ruggedized into cases. The hard disks can be pulled out and secured. We do this for classifed storage purposes. The cases are more expensive, but backing up directly to an internal HD is much faster.
  5. MrGaribaldi

    MrGaribaldi TechSpot Ambassador Posts: 2,488

    The internal cases doesn't even cost that much... You can find quite a few different models here...

    As for the backing up, the way you outlined with first using harddrive and then tape backup that sounds like a very secure system...
    Depending on your budget, you might get 5 drives with their own cases (just make sure they fit the same rack) and thus have the capability to go back to any day in the last week, and then do the routine you outlined with tape back-up every end-of-week...

    Thank you IronDuke for fixing my mistake with posting a store that doesn't ship internationally
  6. IronDuke

    IronDuke TS Rookie Posts: 801

    A UK supplier can be found here.
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