I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to back up important files. I'm currently burning a cd about once or twice a month with all the files that I consider critical to my business. This has been working ok but the files are getting too big for one cd. Plus prices are now pretty cheap for the other methods I'm considering. I'm thinking external hard drive, second hard drive in machine, flash drive, dvd or a second pc (I've got an old one collecting dust with a 6 gig harddrive but no usb port to transfer to & from. Computer techs, whats the best method ? Thanks.

I run a dedicated file server PC with a version of Norton Ghost on it for doing full system backups...
I also have dedicated shares on it for just file backups...

Works great for me.

Synthesis, you're talking to a pretty brain dead person here when it comes to pc files & such. Is it possible to use one of my old pcs as a file server / backup ? I have an old 266 (no usb ports) and a 833 both with about 6 gig hard drives. Thanks.

If it's critical for business, I'd want my backup(s) to be off site (whether you carry it off or not)

Also, you want to be able to access that data soon after the main machine fails...so make sure you have a copy of the apps 9and their serial numbers!!!) to re-install offsite as well.

What type of data? images? Video? Quickbook file(s)?

www.etech4sale.com

I ordered a 60g Hard drive from them about 2 years ago for $55.00 + shipping. It has run like a champ. The drive is now almost full, so I just orderd a 250g drive for $79.00 + shipping. They offer a 1 year warranty thru them. I believe they are fefurbished drives, but like I said, I have had no issues with it. It has saved me twice now, with drive crashes on my work laptop.

My suggestion would be to use an offsite file server owned by a reputable company. We back up all documents and critical data to an XO Communications Unix server. We also have our website hosting there. In addition all of our computers (Windows / Linux / Macintosh) are backed up to a local LAN file server running Mepis Linux which is protected by a dedicated firewall. Redundancy is the key to backing up data. Do your backups on a daily basis if needed, or create a time of the week/month to backup data and backup to several different storage systems (i.e. your own LAN file server and an offsite server).

Just the other day the OLD 20 gig drive on this computer crapped out with all of our important data on it. No problem, just put in a new 40 gig drive, uploaded Linux and downloaded all backups. Machine was back up and running in about 45 minutes and all critical data was restored

We have also moved our accounting to QuickBooks online edition. That way Intuit is responsible for keeping our data and backing it up

I always forget to backup my personal browser bookmarks though....arggghhhhh!

[This message has been edited by tutnkmn (edited 08-01-2006).]

You should not keep that kind of data without doing a backup each night. Tape is the best, you can run the backup each night and take the tape home each night.

Jake's suggestion is the way to go for a small business. You want to take the tape with you when you leave for the night.

For my home computers, I run Norton Ghost. And I have a 100 gb external harddrive. It connects through a USB2 port on the front of the computer. It provides a complete image of the harddrive & using the ghost disk as a start disk can restore the computer to a previous point if need be. And I completely disconnect it between uses (unplugged from the power supply and from the usb port.)

I can use it to backup my desktop computer and my laptop. Cost was about $100 after rebates at Compusa--Ghost was free (part of a bundle) after rebates.

I can back up files (pictures, .pdf files, correspondences, etc) separately from the restore points. The computer sees the external drive as a D drive. I've used the restore feature on my laptop. It worked perfectly. I try to do weekly backups, btw.

quote Originally posted by Brian Lamberts: Jake's suggestion is the way to go for a small business. You want to take the tape with you when you leave for the night. For my home computers, I run Norton Ghost. And I have a 100 gb external harddrive. It connects through a USB2 port on the front of the computer. It provides a complete image of the harddrive & using the ghost disk as a start disk can restore the computer to a previous point if need be. And I completely disconnect it between uses (unplugged from the power supply and from the usb port.) I can use it to backup my desktop computer and my laptop. Cost was about $100 after rebates at Compusa--Ghost was free (part of a bundle) after rebates. I can back up files (pictures, .pdf files, correspondences, etc) separately from the restore points. The computer sees the external drive as a D drive. I've used the restore feature on my laptop. It worked perfectly. I try to do weekly backups, btw.

For a small business tape is a good (cheap) alternative. You need to maintain the tapes in a safe environement and be sure not to exceed the "shelf life" of the media without creating a new tape.

If you have the funds (we spend over $300.00 per month on offsite backup servers and website hosting) offsite services are the best, although get information about the service first. XO backs up to multiple machines and tape several times a day for all their clients. Make sure a service also has a guarantee/insurance against data corruption, etc. In addition, for imaging entire disks to offsite servers you would need high speed internet which adds more to your total tech budget.

Some tape backup machines and external hard drives are fairly inexpensive and can be very reliable. Before we went to offsite backups we used an HP tape drive which was about $100.00.

BTW - we do not trust Microsoft products for anything critical. The number of possible security issues with M$ products and the hassle of maintaining updates, patches, etc., is too time consuming and costly. We use some Windows workstations but data backup is handled completely by Linux. Creating a Linux fileserver is fairly simple and the software can be had for free from a number of Linux vendors. Not trying to start a flame war over Windows vs Linux, just a fact. Windows has its uses too but my organization has learned the hard way not to depend upon it.

[This message has been edited by tutnkmn (edited 08-01-2006).]