Backup Solutions

Backup can often be an overlooked area by any business whether they are small or large.  With so many employees now choosing to work from home, not to mention those precious family photos stored on the office PC, ensuring that you have a backup solution in place is vital.

So many backup solutions?

There are plenty of solutions out there but there is not a single universal solution that is right for everyone.   Backup solutions vary in price, features, performance, size and medium.   Some use tape,  whilst others use newer formats such as DVD or external hard drives.  Backup solutions require two key elements:  hardware and software.   Here are some examples which Computime are able to supply, configure.install and monitor:

• Symantec (previously Veritas) Backup Exec
• Acronis True Image
• Microsoft Backup Utility
• Nero Burning ROM
• SQL DTS packages
• Scripts & batch files
• Bespoke packages written to your requirements.
• All of the above with a variety of hardware such as tape drives, DVD writers, CD writers, external hard drives, network shares, zip drives, NAS and SAN. 

So does size matter?

Well, yes it does but it's not the only thing to look for when considering a backup solution.  Other considerations are:

• How much actual irreplaceable data are you backing up?
• Do you need to back up the Operating System (OS) and programs if you have them on CD/DVD?
• What medium does the backup use?  i.e.  DVD, tape, HDD
• How reliable is this medium?  i.e. does it wear out,
• How many gigabytes can be stored on each media? 
• How fast can the backup device write the data?
• How fast can data be restored?
• How fast is the network that will be used to transfer data across to the backup device?
• Do you need any special equipment or another PC to perform a restore?
• Who will be responsible for monitoring the backup and/or changing medium? i.e. change tapes.

Server backup solutions

Servers typically use magnetic tape drives due to their large capacity and fairly fast transfer rates.  However the ever-popular DAT tape drives are now being replaced by faster Digital Linear Tape (DLT)and AIT drives by Sony along with SAIT drives.

Other solutions can include:

• Network Area Storage (NAS) drives - backup across a network
• Storage Area Network (SAN) drives - backup to virtual drives across a network
• Removable external hard drives
• DVD writers
• Redundant servers

We usually work with partner, Acronis for server backup solutions providing Acronis TrueImage or Symantec Backup Exec providing features such as:

• Scheduled backups
• Rotational media management
• Email notification
• Automatic cancellation
• Holiday allowances
• Individual file restore

Workstation backup solutions

As a rule of thumb, workstations should be storing their data on servers in client-server architecture.  Therefore only the OS and programs are vunerable reducing the need for additional workstation backups.  However where appropriate (i.e. payroll PCs), suitable secure backups can be set up so files are optionally encrypted too.

Home user backup solutions

 We also advice and assist many home users in setting up their own mini-backup solutions to preserve important information such as documents, photos and videos.  This often a variety of software solutions can involve synchronisation with servers, external

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