How to backup an XServe ? On what HW ?

sternonesternone
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Dear,



I'm planning to buy a new X-Serve when 10.5 comes out, but what should i use to make a solid backup on a daily basis ? What solution do you propose ? Just pop in a second identical harddrive and use timemachine ? Or an external device that i can take along and swap each time ?



Thanks for your idea's... i find that backup solutions are many times forgotten....

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,185member
    Second hard drive ... can't an xserve set up a dual redundant RAID ? ... just constantly duplicates both drives ? ... or have it set to backup once a day... or twice a day... or once a week... that would certainly seem easier than an external device. Just set it and forget it.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Backup schemes always depend on how much there is to back up, whether you want to keep all versions of everything or only the most recent change, and how valuable the data is.



    Irreplaceable data should be backed up a least twice, and one of the backups taken off-site. Web backup can work for that if it is only a few gigs.



    For huge amounts of data that needs to archive every revision, you will run out of hard drives quickly. Tape is then the answer, as it has been in the past. Three copies, one taken offsite every night.



    And - always check your backups when you first set them up to make certain that you can actually restore from them if the main hard drive goes south. It's amazing how many people never check this, go for years backing up every day, and then find out that the backups won't restore.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    sternonesternone Posts: 80member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lundy View Post


    Tape is then the answer, as it has been in the past. Three copies, one taken offsite every night.



    And - always check your backups when you first set them up to make certain that you can actually restore from them if the main hard drive goes south. It's amazing how many people never check this, go for years backing up every day, and then find out that the backups won't restore.



    Thanks for your reply, i would love to go for tape, but what hardware would you propose if you need to backup let us say around 100gb ?



    Will time-machine give me a solution for this backup problem ? Maybe combined with a tape solution...
  • Reply 4 of 6
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Time Machine backs up to a second volume. In your case that would be a second hard drive in the Xserve.



    At 100 GB, again it depends on how much of that 100 GB gets modified each day, and how many days' worth you need to keep. The simplest would be if you only ever need the most recent version of your files, in which case 100 GB would fit on any hard drive.



    Doesn't solve the off-site problem, but again that is a measure of how valuable the data is and how much it would cost to replace it if the Xserve was burned up in a fire, for example.



    If the data is irreplaceable, then an external hard drive seems to be the way to go - removing it and taking it offsite.



    Maybe others can chime in as to whether there are any reasonably priced tape solutions for 100 GB. I don't think there are.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    tigolbittiestigolbitties Posts: 2member
    first of all, if you need backups of only 100gb... you don't need an xserve LOL... looking for a reason to burn a few K?



    I would recommend just getting a NAS or attached storage via firewire with removable drives. that way you can take it off site...



    2cents
  • Reply 6 of 6
    sternonesternone Posts: 80member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tigolbitties View Post


    first of all, if you need backups of only 100gb... you don't need an xserve LOL... looking for a reason to burn a few K?



    I would recommend just getting a NAS or attached storage via firewire with removable drives. that way you can take it off site...



    2cents



    Yes, it's only 2 persons who are working togheter, but we need to share a drive so we can both access the files, and we need a webserver (i defintly need the WIKI in the next mac os x version so we can make wiki for each project and let the customer surf on that wiki, i hope that is gonna be possible, do we need an xserve for that ? Probably not, maybe just a mac mini will do with some extra harddrives, but i tought: wouldn't i just be better of with an XSERVER ?
Sign In or Register to comment.