| Author |
Message |
Danny Albers (Danny)
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 - 8:23 pm: | |
I am administering a 25 client, NT4 server based network.
The server has two volumes, both NTFS formatted.
I currently uses Seagates Back-up exec for the data backup to tape.
However, they want too much money for the bootable recovery option, which on the website at the time said was supported (which I guess is another way to say it costs extra).
I would like to find an inexpensive, bootable recovery option. Be it Tape, CDR, whatever so that I can make , every now and then, a bootable recovery disk and tape or CD, and simply restore the data files afterwards.
It has to be inexpensive and good.
Anyone have any products they would like to recommend? I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks |
Joe
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2000 - 2:26 pm: | |
I am not familier with NT Server, but I use NT 4 WorkStation. My backup method is a second hard drive placed in a removable tray and configured as a slave on the primary IDE channel. My software is PowerQuest's DriveImage 3.0 which makes an identical bootable image of the master drive. With version 3.0 the backup drive could be smaller than the primary drive but it cannot be smaller than the space that is used on the primary drive. I am not familier with other software that does this, but I think that Norton Ghost may be similar.
With the removable tray my backup drive is just as portable as a tape or CD, albeit somewhat larger. If the primary drive fails, all one has to do is remove it and configure the backup drive as a master, and you are back in business.
The one disadvantage that I see with this method is that the computer must be shut down every time the backup drive is added or removed. However, the backup drive can be left in the computer if desired, with the backup partition(s) hidden, but this I would not recommend. |
Danny Albers (Danny)
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2000 - 7:26 pm: | |
hehe, I thought of that, but what I want (preferably) is a tape scheme that utilizes a boot disk to restore the server from tape, completely, or a bootable CD ROM.
With Drive Image, I suppose I could split the files, make the first CD bootable and have it contain the drive image rebuild utils. The latest drive image supposedly supports split files.
With your method, I could actually just save money on Drive Image, and use the built-in disk manager to mirror the drive, once that is done, break the mirror and remove the drive!!
The problem is that I would have to purchase a dedicated hard drive just for that purpose, rather than an inexpensive media like CD's or Tape.
I may actually go with the drive image idea. Breaking up the file to multiple CD's.
I was just hoping that there might actually be a freeware NT package out there for bootable recovery. But I guess when you spend a few grand on an OS, you should be expected to bend over every time you need something added to it :)
Thanks for your help!!! Gave me new ideas to ponder. |
Mark
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 2:20 pm: | |
Try using Disk Mirroring and have a bootable floppy handy with the ARC path pointing to the mirror.
True you will be giving up 50% of your HD real estate, but it does provide fault tolerance. |
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