What's the best way to back up your hard drive? I have an external hard drive but I was wondering if there were any other alternatives that I'm missing. Big thanks in advance.
I use an AIT tape drive to back-up my avid workstation. The tape natively holds 25GB I believe, and that doubles to 50GB when compressed (roughly). I use an AIT-3 drive to back-up everything else on my network. It's fast, and it holds a lot of data. It's also kind of pricey...
Total idiot here but how does a Tape Drive work? I'm willing to plunk down the cash, so long as l know it would be an improvment over the external hard drive I already have.
I use Retrospect for backing up to tape. There a lot of different tape back-up systems, AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) is made by Sony, and is one of the faster and larger capacity options. You can write to it over SCSI at about 15MB/sec, combined with a fast network, and network back-ups are quick and painless.
There are a few different methods of storing data on the tape. Basically, Retrospect creates a Storage Set on the tape, whch will contain all the data. It then backs up everything on your computer that you tell it to. Subsequent back-ups will only back-up data which has been modified or created since the last back-up. These subsequent back-ups don't replace the older files, they just get written next in line on the tape until it fills up.
You can also ask retrospect to back-up everything, every time, instead of just adding to the storage set what has been backed up.
AIT comes in a few different flavors, and each level can support more data per tape. A good place to read up on AIT would be <a href="http://www.aittape.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.aittape.com/</a>;
I've used DAT (which my storage needs have outgrown) and NS8 (which was rather slow). I got my AIT-2 drive about 8 months ago, and it's been running like a champ. It's nice to have peace of mind
All the tape solutions I've seen are really expensive.
My Mac is a lowly B&W G3/350 and I only have a CD burner. I've been using (lots of) CD-RWs for my backups, but this is becoming infeasible. I'll be getting a new Mac in July. It'd be nice if the stock DVD burner would be all I needed for my backups.
So, what about DVD-RW with a Superdrive? Has anybody gone this route for backups? Using Apple's stock DVD burners? They'll burn DVD-R and DVD-RW, right? I wouldn't want to use DVD-Rs (need to re-use the media). Does this work well with Retrospect?
Alternatively, does anybody know of a high-capacity (10's of gigs at least) tape drive that's cheap and works well with Retrospect?
You can actually pick up an AIT drive for under $200, and that provides the ~25GB native capacity per tape, and about 50GB compressed. Faster than burning a DVD, and the tapes will hold a lot more.
I got a 40 gb firewire external hard drive from firewire direct. I use Tri-backup. Everything is fast and easy. So far I haven't had to restore anything, knock on wood...
I got a 40 gb firewire external hard drive from firewire direct. I use Tri-backup. Everything is fast and easy. So far I haven't had to restore anything, knock on wood...
A lot of people have been using hard drives to back up their data. I mean, you can get a 120GB IDE drive for $200. If you wanted to use a hard disk to back up, just buy two of the same drive and put them into a mirrored RAID array. Backing up to tape is still a safer bet if you can afford it...
<strong>Backing up to tape is still a safer bet if you can afford it...</strong><hr></blockquote>
M3D Jack: Why is backing up to tape safer than backing up to a hard drive? I still have these horrible memories of my tape collection dying slowly after years of use.
I really need to start backing up more often. Right now, I simply copy my important files by hand between my iBook and iMac once every few weeks. I figure that if one of the two gets lost, I won't loose too much. What is the easiest and/or least expensive way to start backing up essential files regularly, for a backup beginner?
We use better tapes for backing up data than we do for storing audio And if storing data on a hard drive was so reliable to begin with, there wouldn't be so many tape drives in use.
Actually, it's more preference with me, as I've seen more hard drives go down than tape back-ups that I couldn't recover from. Some advantages to tape...
o Modern tape formats are built for the sole purpose of archiving data, and that's why the tapes sometimes cost a lot. Proper cycling of tapes for your back-ups, and proper storage, can give them a long shelf life.
o Fewer moving parts in a tape than a hard disk.
o After my back up is complete, I can remove the tape and store it in my fire safe, giving me some extre protection and comfort.
If you're careless with the media, you're going to compromise your data. Improper storage (ie- heat, magnetism, etc) will damage a tape quickly. I cycle through a half dozen tapes for my back-ups, that way no tape is acting as the single workhorse. It's easier to not have to deal with that when using a hard disk for back-up, but then again, that drive is stored inside of your computer, the platters are spinning as long as the computer is on, and it's not easy to remove it and place it in the safe.
Anyhow, my thoughts and feelings, I know some people will swear *against* tape drives, but it is usually because they've dealt with clients who weren't enforcing proper back-up methods with their media.
Comments
There are a few different methods of storing data on the tape. Basically, Retrospect creates a Storage Set on the tape, whch will contain all the data. It then backs up everything on your computer that you tell it to. Subsequent back-ups will only back-up data which has been modified or created since the last back-up. These subsequent back-ups don't replace the older files, they just get written next in line on the tape until it fills up.
You can also ask retrospect to back-up everything, every time, instead of just adding to the storage set what has been backed up.
AIT comes in a few different flavors, and each level can support more data per tape. A good place to read up on AIT would be <a href="http://www.aittape.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.aittape.com/</a>;
I've used DAT (which my storage needs have outgrown) and NS8 (which was rather slow). I got my AIT-2 drive about 8 months ago, and it's been running like a champ. It's nice to have peace of mind
[edit: fixed a typo]
[ 05-08-2002: Message edited by: M3D Jack ]</p>
My Mac is a lowly B&W G3/350 and I only have a CD burner. I've been using (lots of) CD-RWs for my backups, but this is becoming infeasible. I'll be getting a new Mac in July. It'd be nice if the stock DVD burner would be all I needed for my backups.
So, what about DVD-RW with a Superdrive? Has anybody gone this route for backups? Using Apple's stock DVD burners? They'll burn DVD-R and DVD-RW, right? I wouldn't want to use DVD-Rs (need to re-use the media). Does this work well with Retrospect?
Alternatively, does anybody know of a high-capacity (10's of gigs at least) tape drive that's cheap and works well with Retrospect?
Check on ebay for: AIT tape drive sony
<strong>You can actually pick up an AIT drive for under $200</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh, wow. That's a lot cheaper than when I checked into it last. Thanks.
<strong>Backing up to tape is still a safer bet if you can afford it...</strong><hr></blockquote>
M3D Jack: Why is backing up to tape safer than backing up to a hard drive? I still have these horrible memories of my tape collection dying slowly after years of use.
I really need to start backing up more often. Right now, I simply copy my important files by hand between my iBook and iMac once every few weeks. I figure that if one of the two gets lost, I won't loose too much. What is the easiest and/or least expensive way to start backing up essential files regularly, for a backup beginner?
Escher
[ 05-10-2002: Message edited by: Escher ]</p>
Actually, it's more preference with me, as I've seen more hard drives go down than tape back-ups that I couldn't recover from. Some advantages to tape...
o Modern tape formats are built for the sole purpose of archiving data, and that's why the tapes sometimes cost a lot. Proper cycling of tapes for your back-ups, and proper storage, can give them a long shelf life.
o Fewer moving parts in a tape than a hard disk.
o After my back up is complete, I can remove the tape and store it in my fire safe, giving me some extre protection and comfort.
If you're careless with the media, you're going to compromise your data. Improper storage (ie- heat, magnetism, etc) will damage a tape quickly. I cycle through a half dozen tapes for my back-ups, that way no tape is acting as the single workhorse. It's easier to not have to deal with that when using a hard disk for back-up, but then again, that drive is stored inside of your computer, the platters are spinning as long as the computer is on, and it's not easy to remove it and place it in the safe.
Anyhow, my thoughts and feelings, I know some people will swear *against* tape drives, but it is usually because they've dealt with clients who weren't enforcing proper back-up methods with their media.