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Plan, Backup, Test, Repeat—It's Not Just a Good Idea, It's a Necessity (Continued)

Choose the Right Backup Format
For pure speed, it's hard to beat backing up to CD-WORM and DVD-RAM discs. But even DVD-RAM can only store up to 4.7GB of raw, uncompressed data per disc. That may be fine for storing a workstation's vital data, but it simply isn't good enough for server storage.

There's also a compatibility problem with using recordable DVDs. Besides DVD-RAM, there are DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-R discs and drives. Need I add that they're incompatible with each other? While devices like the Pioneer DVR-A05 make fine workstation backups, you must have a strict, company-wide standard on both DVD recordable devices and media, or face the consequences.

For serious network storage, you still only have one serious choice: tape. Tape's input/output speed is much better than it has been, but it's still not close to a disk's speed. On the other hand, you can store over 100GBs of data on a single tape cartridge; for example, the well-thought-of Quantum SDLT 320 can hold 150GB per tape.

Some single tape drives, notably Exabyte's VXA tape series, offer close to disk random file speeds, but these drives top out at an uncompressed 80GBs per drive.

For serious storage, what you need is an automated tape library box, such as the Quantum ATL SuperLoader, which can handle 17 SDLT tapes for a total of over 2.5 terabytes of uncompressed storage, or the Overland PowerLoader SDLT 320, with slightly less storage.

Decide Where Backups Will Be Stored
Once you have that backup, though, where are you going to keep it? The old rule of thumb was that you kept at least one copy on-site and another at a local safe house, such as a bank deposit box. In the post 9/11 world, though, that isn't likely to be enough.

Some companies have even taken to keeping their backups with outsourced data protection companies like Iron Mountain. If you require the best-possible backup at an external location, such companies offer a valuable service.

Simply keeping complete backups at multiple sites will be sufficient for most companies, but there are several caveats. The first is that the data needs to be physically secure. We tend to focus on hackers stealing away data, but a data thief can do just as well by dropping a 4mm data tape into his pocket. The second problem is that if you're using the Internet to replicate data to a storage facility, you need to make sure that the connection itself is protected by encryption, a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection, a Virtual Private Network (VPN), or all of the above.

Of course, remote backups have one problem—they're extremely difficult to use for restoring. That's one reason why hot backups have become more popular. While not an enterprise-wide solution, it makes good sense to keep hot backup servers if you have a critical server or server farm. Normally, these servers are on-site and constantly replicate the work being done by the main servers. It's an expensive solution, but it's cheaper than having your e-commerce site disappear with one lightning strike.

Can't afford that? Well, it's your company, but you can also get some of the benefits of hot backups by mirroring data on redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) and storage area networks (SANs). That way, such commonplace workplace dangers as the death of a single hard drive or server won't bring your business to a crawl.

Decide How Often to Replace Backup Media
You need to replace your backup media on a regular schedule. For example, I'd never use a backup, whether tape or rewritable optical disc, more than two dozen times, even though the mean time between failures (MTBF) on data recovery media is much greater than that. Call me cynical, but I've seen too many backup tapes go bad—up to and including breaking—when they were needed most.

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