Re: HA Server Backup Tool/Process recommendations needed (XP Pro only)

["Tim Hawes" <timsyahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David,

This came up recently on the Automated Home forums. I'm a big fan of
Norton (Symantec) Ghost, but there are other apps. An imaged HDD ready
to go directly into a target machine was a backup strategy I used in a
previous job. I didn't worry about having the latest data on the spare
disk as it was just a temporary/emergency measure, but data could be
back-populated onto the new disk, or the temp drive swapped out with
the permanent replacement for the target machine.

The Automated Home thread is here:
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1577

Ghost would backup over a network connection, although I don't know if
it can do this to a NAS solution that isn't a "PC".

HTH,

Tim.

On 10/30/07, David Gumbrell <david.gumbrell@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> My HA server hard disk appears to have started to die last night.
> Makes weird noises, very forgetful but not totally dead. Yet.
<insert
> age-ist joke here>
>
> I have scheduled data backups and I have a fall-back light switch
> scheme, but rebuilding onto a new hard disk still took several hours.
> I am considering a hot or cold standby machine, or even cold standby
> hard drive, but also have to balance risk/cost.
>
> So what would you do for backing up an HA server against catastrophic
> failure as well as accidental deletions?
>
> Server runs XP Pro (no choice on that ... it's not going to Vista and
> I can't get/afford WS2003)
> Slightly inconvenient to attach external drive directly so could
> consider this on an occasional basis.
>
> How good/bad is BIOS/hardware SATA RAID on most motherboards from the
> point of view mirroring and surviving a single hard disk failure ?
>
> What is easiest/cheapest/quickest disaster recovery tool to get a
> machine rebuilt quickly ? Especially interested if they can have
> scheduled backups to a NAS to avoid having to clamber about with the
> external drive.
>
>
> Cheers
>
> David