best way to backup files 4 small business

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JonnyK

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my uncle runs a small woodworking business and he just got an engraving machine and it doing lots of stuff with that for companies. he also has normal documents and whatever for his business on the computer. we are looking for a way to backup his files in case something goes wrong and he needs to format, or there is a hard drive failure and it gets corrupted, anything like that. so what is the best way to do this?

should i get another hard drive and set up a raid or get a tape drive or what. any help is appreciated.
 
raid +1

it makes an exact duplicate on 2nd drive if drive 1 fails.

as well having another computer on network to copy all sensative files to.

Or norton ghost.
 
How big are the files you need to backup in total?

Just backup daily to a DVD-RW and replace monthly.

Raid1 is good for redundency but is not a backup.
 
If you are just going to back a couple of gigs up, then use DVD-RAM. It might be expensive to get onto, but it is by far the best, as windows looks at it as if it were another hardrive, so you can read and write to your hearts content!
 
If you want the security of off-site backup, get a flash memory key and script a batch file to copy only the most important folders from your PC onto it (use the "copy only more recent than existing version" switch of the xcopy command). If you put the key on your keyring, you'll never leave without it.

That way, you just plug in, double-click, wait a few min, unplug, walk away.

I suspect it'd work for DVDRAM too, but the discs are bigger!
 
JonnyK said:
my uncle runs a small woodworking business and he just got an engraving machine and it doing lots of stuff with that for companies. he also has normal documents and whatever for his business on the computer. we are looking for a way to backup his files in case something goes wrong and he needs to format, or there is a hard drive failure and it gets corrupted, anything like that. so what is the best way to do this?

should i get another hard drive and set up a raid or get a tape drive or what. any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

First ask these questions:

1. What exactly do you want do backup? Just the data or the entire system?
2. How much space is required for each of the above scenarios?
3. How much data is added daily to the system?
4. What kind of budget does your uncle have for a backup system?

Once you have the answers to all four questions, then we can start making some educated suggestions about what will work best for your Uncle's business.
 
how about getting an external enclosure and a decent sized hard drive (120gb+ depending on his needs), then just have it automatically back it up daily at a certain time, or if you just need a once a week backup or whatever you can just do the backup to the external drive then bring it home or wherever else just in case the shop gets broken into or burns down or anything. I learned that off site back up is always a good idea the hard way.
 
external hard drive sounds like a good, not too expensive, idea. i'm not sure how much he's willing to spend on this, nor do i know how much space he needs, i don't think it's much as of right now. i'll look into some of the things you guys said, thanks.
 
It really depends on the value of the files and their size.
An external hdd is ONLY a good idea if it is not connected to the computer apart from duing backup and restore operations. If a virus hits, you don't want it to destroy your backup too.

Consider that burning DVDs and storing them off site may be quite cheap and you will be able to transport them more easily than a HDD. Chances of a HDD being damages in transport is pretty high. Off-site storage is good, if a fire breaks out (woodworking business!) which would certainly destroy the external HDD if stored next to the PC.
 
go get a p2 or something and have it running @ your house and have him upload all his files to it this way a fire happens u have all his files his pc crashes or shorts u have all his files. my dad did this when he owned a couple dunkin donuts storea about a year ago we did it for almost 3 years
 
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