Tape vs HDD backup

[FacELesS.]

Which is better?
I have not done the research for myself yet but I have a sneaky suspicion that HDD will come out to be cheaper and more convenient.

 

[mancombseepgood]

Cheaper depending on how many backups you need....
let's say you need one per day, with alternating Fridays, one every second month and an archive every 6 months...
That makes it 8 for the weekly backups, two monthlies and two every year....

Tape can be cheaper in that scenario
I'm all for HDD backups though.... especially if you only have about 5 and alternate and then only need to archive the odd few things every now and then - 9Gb DVD will do for that...

 

[killadoob]

what about blu ray?

3k for the writer 25gb per disk? maybe the disks are to expensive hey

 

[FacELesS.]

Atm our backup server is using 3 HDD's in raid 5. We have 850GB of backups which translates into about 30 days of retention. We do a full backup every month, a differential every week and an incremental every day. We'd like to increase our retention to 3 months about though.

 

[HavocXphere]

3 of my partitions just went AWOL. (~400gb)

I'd guess the chances of massive data loss is lower with tapes.

 

[mancombseepgood]

Atm our backup server is using 3 HDD's in raid 5. We have 850GB of backups which translates into about 30 days of retention. We do a full backup every month, a differential every week and an incremental every day. We'd like to increase our retention to 3 months about though.

So what do you have to protect from theft and fire?
Backup is useless if you don't keep it offsite - I assume in the 850Gb you keep a backup offsite at all times.

 

[spiderz]

Get a bigger raid array, and an external Hdd for offsite backups once a week.

 

[FacELesS.]

The backup server is networked and is situated about 150m outside our offices in another building. I think it counts as semi-offsite.

 

[mancombseepgood]

Sure - that works... 150m and another building - provided there is no chance of fire or theft from both buildings.

 

[Turiko]

On the subject of tape backup.

Can anyone recommend a unit for a SMME with 2 servers and about 8 workstations?

 

[Moederloos]

I am also considering tape vs hdd. Removable HDD can be taken offsite quite easily.
Even a few LAN drives would work.

As for off-site. I consider "off-site" to mean "far enough away to survive a ground-zero nuclear strike".

 

[.Froot.]

There are hosting sites that offer remote backups as a service. Costs a pretty penny but worthwhile if you handle important data.
Tape drives are slower than hard drives, but on a long run are less costly. Personally however I prefer harddrive backups.