DVD-RW for backup unit

[Guest]

HI!
I am a network administrator and
I perform a network backup each day.
This can take between 12 to 16 hours.
I need 3 40Gb tapes to complete the backupm set.
I want to know if I can use the DVD-RW for make my backup faster and if the proportion space/speed/cost is more cost-effective?
If you have any other ideas for reducing my backup time,
I would like to hear any suggestions that you may have.

 

[ejsmith2]

It takes you 3, 40 gigabyte tapes to backup your network?

Maybe.

DVD+RW holds 4.38gig per disk; it would take you about 28. If you bought one 4x DVD+RW burner, it would chop your time down to 7 hours or so; something like 17gig per hour backup rate. But you'd have to have someone there swapping out disks the entire time. About every 15 minutes. And then data verification is another matter. The startup cost would be fairly decent compared to the tapes. Strictly for the media alone.

DVD-RW maxxes out at 2x right now. That would give you a 8.5gig per hour backup rate, so you'd have to buy two burners (running synchronous) to get any kind of decreased time. The DVD-RW media is about half that of the DVD+RW.

DVD-RAM drives can burn at 2x, and the disks are good for something like 100,000 writes. the 9.4gig disks (actually, they are more like the old cdroms inside caddies, but the new caddies you can take the disks out of). But the 9.4gig disks are $15 and upwards to about $20.

It really depends on just how much you're willing to spend, and exactly how MUCH time you're wanting to shave off. If you're not all that extrememely busy, then one 4x DVD+RW burner would get you by. If you're strapped completely, I'd give serious though to either two DVD-RAM drives or two DVD+RW drives.

If cash is your main concern, then two DVD-RW drives are about your only route to decreased time.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[sturm]

Do u do a full backup of everthing or do u backup only the files that have changed?
If the company would let u do it, just back up the files that were changed that day. That would really cut down the time and amount of data backuped. But it would also increase the amount of backup tapes/disks u would need. Plus if u need to reinstall the data u would have to reload each disk starting with the first one/oldest backup.