How backups work

[Firefly86]

Hi guys,

Hope you can give me some advice

I'm trying to come up with the best way to backup my workstations here in the office.

Now I know of a few different ways to backup stuff but I'm not 100% clear about what each does. Can someone explain the difference between the following:

1. System State backup.

I know this backs up boot files, registry files and the COM+ database. Does this mean no actual data is backed up? documents etc?

2. Automated System Recovery (ASR)
What exactly does this backup?

What I'm really looking for is something which will backup basically everything(i.e. partitions, program files installed etc)

What is the best way to really backup ? :/

I hope what I've said is clear enough

 

[Uhtred]

for what you want it would probably be best to create a ghost image file of your hard disk using norton ghost or similar

 

[Curiosityx]

From what your saying you want some drive image software, this doesnt run from Windows but a DOS environment.

Utilities such as Norton Ghost can do this with ease but are not centraly manageable and each Pc will need individual attention.

You can backup all files on a client remotly by using remote backup agents that are provided with solutions such as Veritas Backup Exec.

The ASR process allows to restore the system disk (usually the C: drive) including the Windows files, all Registry settings and all user programs and data, allowing to recover a completely crashed system. To use this procedure you must be able to boot the Windows XP Pro Setup-program from the installation CD-ROM.


The windows backup utility can either:

1. Backup your user data (Documents and Settings)
2. Backup All user data (All Documents and Settings Folders)
3. All file stored on your Pc including User Data, System State and also creates an ASR Disk.

Or you can choose what youd like to backup manualy.

Personally in your case id recommend obtaining a dedicated tape/disk backup soution and a copy of some proffessional backup software like Veritas Backup Exec or CA Arcserve.

These packages allow you tool install remote agents on your Pc's allowing the backup software to access local files.

 

[CoXeY]

NTBackup will do what you're after by combining ASR and data backups on a regular basis.

We use NTBackup here and I have daily full backups of the data (stored on d:\) sent to a central backup server and then transfered to tape - again using NTBackup. Then on a monthly basis I shoot round and take an ASR of each machine to provide me with a recoverable operating system in the event of failure.

This is a little tedious but in an office with only 10 workstations it is hard to justify something like Backup Exec from a solution which is currently free.

That said, a far better solution would be to use imaging software (this is what we do for all our servers). The power of imaging software makes for quicker backup times and recovery to the same or disimilair hardware possible in minutes!

We currently use Symantec Backup Exec Server Recovery to the job, but deciding which product to use all really comes down to how many workstations you need to backup and how much cash you have available to do it.


Dan.