Just Bought Dedicated Server | Best Backup Solution?

[mike.fro]

Hello,
Our company just invested in our own dedicated server and I would like to know your best suggestion on a backup solution? My server company does not provide any backups. I assume I could obviously download a backup myself, and keep it on a local machine. But is there a better, more industry standard process? Something more automatic?

Thanks!

[Force Flow]

An inexpensive approach:

Buy a stack of USB-powered hard drives as your backup drives and rotate them as needed. I would suggest 5 for daily backups, 1 for monthly backups, and 1 for yearly backups.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822236188
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822236187

If your backup storage needs are greater than 1.8TB, then you might want to look into NAS storage options.

As for backing up, if you're up to the task, you can write up a batch file and use robocopy to backup data and set it as a nightly scheduled task.

[mdrussell]

An inexpensive approach:

Buy a stack of USB-power hard drives as your backup drives and rotate them as needed. I would suggest 5 for daily backups, 1 for monthly backups, and 1 for yearly backups.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822236188
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822236187

If your backup storage needs are greater than 1.8TB, then you might want to look into NAS storage options.

As for backing up, if you're up to the task, you can write up a batch file and use robocopy to backup data and set it as a nightly scheduled task.

These aren't really suitable for a dedicated server. Are you expecting the datacenter to rotate USB keys? Most facilities won't offer it and those that do will generally charge more than the server cost itself.

@OP, your options are:

1) Choose a dedicated server provider who offers you backup options
2) Choose a backup storage provider or aggregator that will let you backup to AWS
3) Use something like CodeGuard.com (website level backups)
4) Perform local backups to your machine as you indicate. Some FTP software will let you schedule this

[Force Flow]

These aren't really suitable for a dedicated server. Are you expecting the datacenter to rotate USB keys? Most facilities won't offer it and those that do will generally charge more than the server cost itself.

Drives, not keys. I was under the impression that the server was on-site, rather than off-site. Yes, if the server is off-site, this solution would not be practical.

[postcd]

Buy backup storage from Amazon. Very cheap and i think reliable too.

[postcd]

I would choose cheapest storage space and monitor its uptime. When it become unreliable, you can switch to other.
Look at Amazon hosting services too.