Networks Backing up files....RAID 1 or network

I looking to find a nice easy way to make sure ALL my files are always backed up on 3 PCs I have. I currently use Zip disks and/or CD-RWs, but it's becoming a pain in the arse to doing 2 sets of back ups....sooo many disks!!!

Which would be a better solution; putting RAID 1 Arrays into each PC or having a dedicated fileserver acting as a RAID 1 for all 3 PCs over a network?

I have a Netgear HUB which supports up to 4 PCs, ethernet cards a go-go, cables, an old PII 450 kickin' around (which can become a server), and ATA HDs are dead cheap now. What essential kit or OS/progs will I need? BTW, all 3 PCs will be upgraded to Win XP Home. All are currently on Win98SE.

To complicate matters, all 3 PCs have partitioned HDs....usually 4-6 logical partitions. How will this affect RAID 1 or a fileserver?

 

RAID 1 is not backup
its redundancy
it'll be fine if one drive fails, but if you get a powersurge or something similar then you'll lose both drives and all your data
why not get a big (250gig?) usb2 drive and use that for backup, be quicker than over network

 

I did know that RAID 1 isn't a true backup method, but does give your a duplicate HD if one goes. But like you said, no good if the whole machine goes "phut".

So, network it is! An external 250Gb USB HD is out of the question. Not all my PCs have USB2 connections, I need about 500Gb for backup, and I have all the parts for a fileserver except the extra HDs. So Gb for Gb buying some big ATA HDs is cheaper than buying the external variety. Any some tit is always likely to knock an external drive over and bugger it up....just like what happened to an external Zip drive I had.

The only advantage an external HD would give is if the house burnt down. At least I'd have a better chance to whip the external HD away, thus saving my precious work, than trying to lift a meaty fileserver in its case whilst in a panic.

 

i've been thinging about this (i have 2 PCs, with the whole familys work on)

- my other problem is that the file you need to work on are always on the other macheine to you, so the net result is both PCs are on all day and its a pain, also backing up is a nighmare because most files are dupilacted, with one copy being out-of-date etc

- so im think of getting a F/server (120GB, maybe two in a raid1) to keep all the files on , and a large F/wire HDD like this
lacie 120GB one £106.60 inc VAT from our favorite shop

- one think i need now is some cash

 

Ah yes, the one thing that brings us all back to the real world is a check in our wallets...

One thing I'd suggest is going with a Maxtor external drive over the LaCie - the Maxtors offer a 'one touch' backup feature, so you can basically push a button, go have a cup of tea and come back with the backup done and the Maxtor drives have also scored over LaCie in terms of gigabytes per dollar and performance in every external drive test I've read.

 

yeah, i havent really looked closely at makes/models

- i think i might be geting a 80GB USB one, becasue my wallet hates me already

 

I am a fan of Norton Ghost, you can backup entire drives or just partitions. And you can backup over network, to another HDD, to a CD or DVD or what I do, backup to an external USB2.0 drive..

If you have a spare drive that is big enough you can pickup a USB2.0 drive housing with the standard IDE connector from newegg for around 30 bucks..

-scoob8000

 

Get both! You can never have too much protection.
I suggest a DAT/DLT tape drive since then you can backup all your PCs with only a few tapes and the tapes are also easy to take offsite.

 

surge protector and ups is good.

failing that a PCI usb 2 card or PCI firewire card with external disks. External disks dont have the best performance though, and get quite hot. Firewire is better for lower cpu utilisation.

 

I cannot see any speed differences with my 80GB WD SE drive with it in the pc or in the enclosure running HDTach and ATTO drive benchmark..

USB2 is onboard on my MSI KT4 ULTRA mobo..

-scoob8000

 

Lacie are doing a 1TB external drive now - about £600 on ebuyer

 

I have (had) a 200GB LaCie drive sitting next to me, with a great "button" on it that turned it on, but nothing else. They are VERY chunky and durable... so great as a backup

If I were to get a 1TB one and firewire it to my server... I could back up everything in my house about 100 times

 

Can I ask how you were backing your systems up beforehand?

You said you used CD-RWs..

 

One option is to set up a backup box on your network with enough storage for everything. Wouldnt even have to run all the time, just when you want to do a backup.

Or, just put a real server up with a windows domain and use it for secondary database storage.

Maybe something like that would work for you?

Trust me I know your pain, i have a very large hard drive

Brew

 

CD-Rewriteables. Just like a normal CD that you can burn but you can use it again and again.

I back up using CD-RWs and Zip 100 disks (which I want to stop using because of ye ol' "click-of-death").

 

I know what a cd-rw is.

I was making the point that you'd need hundreds of disk to backup 500GB of stuff.

 

732 to be pricise

- so im guess he want backing up all of the 500GB - maybe before he was only backing up high prioraty data

 

Why don't you just get some sort of fibre SAN?
This dell one http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pvaul_cx7001?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
can have up to 240 IDE drives ~54TB in some huge mess of striped and mirrored raid 5 arrays

Or maybe Apple's Xserve RAID?
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...i1c0ERCIU/0.0.9.1.0.6.25.1.0.21.3.1.1.0?42,13

only 14 drives though

</sarcasm>
ch424

 

how about the Iomega REV drive, were using them in work, 35/90gig fast and removable

 

I think he's trying to do it as cheaply as possible though

What are the costs of DAT drives \ tapes like these days? Also what sort of capacity per tape and how durable are they?