From: Kurt Buff > How much data are you talking about, and how volatile is it?
Our staff VM has a home folder share with about 1TB of data. It's used by about 250 users for their Documents and Desktop folder redirects. > Given your only requirement, and if the data is not terribly > volatile, and there isn't too much of it, I'd suggest dispensing with > backups and relying on VSS. Dispensing with backups is not an option, but I've already enabled shadow copies on the server. > If you want more than that, you might do just fine with a couple of > multi-terabyte USB drives attached to the server and robocopy - again, > depending on the size of your data, and your history requirements. I've considered this old trick: make a VHD on a remote share, mount it as a local drive and tell it to do backups to that VHD. Once it appears as a local drive, the standard windows backup will use all its' nice features for backups. I use this trick at home for a Windows 7 Home Premium backup to my NAS. But what I want is something that isn't a kludge. I want a supported solution that I feel comfortable with as a reliable backup. We shall see if I get what I want. --Matt Ross Ephrata School District ----- Original Message ----- From: Kurt Buff [mailto:[email protected]] To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:06:12 -0800 Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] Wisdom of the crowds: Backup > On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Matthew W. Ross > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good Afternoon, all. > > > > After much frustration with Acronis, I have come to the realization that > it cannot do what I want it to. We've had the product for a year, and have > had marginal success making and pulling data from backups. I am resorting to > standard Windows Backups now. > > > > So, I'm in the market. I would love to have the list's current > recommendations (for and against) various backup products. > > > > Here is my single requirement: > > > > * File level restore of a Window's file share - Our biggest need is when > a teacher/student accidently deletes or writes over a file... and would like > the copy form 3 days ago. > > > > The following are optional: > > > > * VMware support - We are now running all of our servers from the VMware > cluster, some of which are running linux. > > > > * Macintosh file support - Acronis chokes on some Macintosh file names > when doing a file-level backup, and I'd love something that is known to work > with these. > > > > * Mild costs - I'm not looking for a cheap solution, but I'll take one > that's inexpensive. > > > > * Ease of use - A backup solution should not require constant > grooming/tending/clearing to work. > > > > All suggestions are appreciated. > > How much data are you talking about, and how volatile is it? > > Given your only requirement, and if the data is not terribly > volatile, and there isn't too much of it, I'd suggest dispensing with > backups and relying on VSS. > > If you want more than that, you might do just fine with a couple of > multi-terabyte USB drives attached to the server and robocopy - again, > depending on the size of your data, and your history requirements. > > Kurt > > >
