[Gllug] backup solution

[Mike Brodbelt]

On Tue, 2003-07-08 at 21:40, Jack Bertram wrote:
> * Martin A. Brooks <martin at clues.ltd.uk> [030708 20:19]:

> Well, I meant total rather than on one tape. But I do want to be able to
> do a single backup of the most important stuff on to one tape, which is
> why I specified 10Gb per cartridge. 

At 10 Gb per cartridge, you could also consider DDS-3, which is 12 Gb
per tape native capacity, and also benefits from relatively cheap media
compared to DLT. You might also consider writable DVD's, which run to
9.4 Gb. I agree with the previous poster about DLT though - it's the
best solution for you, though it is more expensive. Only you can decide
if your data justifies the cost. Personally, I feel that £100-200 is an
unrealistic budget.

> > >ideally, it would be external, although not if it costs more.
> > >
> > >Should I buy new?  If second-hand, where can I look?
> > 
> > On the one hand you recognise you have a problem, on the other you want to 
> > solve it on the cheap.  Either your data is worth the 1500ukp you'll need 
> > to get a DLT solution or it isn't.
> 
> There's clearly a trade-off between price and quality.  That much is
> obvious.  However, for a personal machine I can hardly justify spending
> £1500 on backup.  

Depends entirely on how much your data is worth to you. If you lost it
all, what would the impact be?

> I don't need complicated kit, just something big enough to do the job.
> CDs would involve far too much of my time since 650Mb isn't enough to
> store a serious amount of data. Reliability is a concern but if I were
> after something mission-critical for my business, I wouldn't be skimping
> here.

Backup systems aren't a good place to cut corners. If you don't care
enough to do it properly, why spend the cash at all? Back up the truly
vital stuff to CDR and don't bother with the rest. If you're going to
buy a backup system, spend the cash to get one that'll work properly.

Mike.


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