Windows Server 2008 and USB Backup - The only way to go... Literally!

Just been chatting to Nathan here in the WA office about the Windows Server 2008 backup options and there is but one type of wired backup available: USB Drive


It seems that the Giants at Microsoft have made the executive decision not to support tape backup anymore and are moving towards USB drive backup instead. 


This is both good and bad and there are a couple of ways of getting around this, however the best I think is the GFS system (Grandfather-Father-Son).


To use this system you need 10 USB drives. For most people you are good to go with 250G drives and they retail for about $100 each. You can contact me here for a proper quote.


The way that the drives work is thus:

• 3 x Monthly Drives (M1, M2 and M3)
• 3 x Weekly Drives (W1, W2, W3)
• 4 x Daily Drives (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)

So if we look at a 12 week cycle using this system you get the following:




Click on table to see full size


So as you can see here you are then left with daily weekly and monthly backups.

This is a good thing as then you have the ability to restore in case something terrible goes wrong.

So what affect does this have on those businesses not using Windows Server 2008 in any of it's forms?

Good advice is the answer to that question.

If Microsoft is moving down the path to using USB drives for backup and moving away from tape, then maybe it's an idea you consider this for your business whether you are using Server 2008 or not.

There are some great advantages to using USB over tape:

1. Cheaper infrastructure
2. Easier to restore - no special tape restore equipment needed
3. No third party software required
4. Easy to manage / maintain

And don't forget - you can still run your online backup as well. However these are used for different things.

Your on site backup is for the most probable of failures - equipment. If your server fails, blows up, hard drives fail or your motherboard burns to a crisp you can simply grab your most recent backup and restore onto a PC to get your business working again. Then when you get your server fixed, or a new server you can restore in the same way.

Off site backup is used when your building burns down, flash floods or falls over (literally) and your backups are ruined in the process.

One way of catering for this, albeit less reliable because of the human element involved, is to take away the backups once they are done to another premises. This is a good way to start getting into the habit of having your daily backups safely stored off-site.

So here we have covered backup best practices and what the different types of backup are used for. I have also let you in on the secret that your GFS backup can be taken off-site for security as well.

So if you think that this is something that could someday save your neck and a lot of money, then click here to contact me at Evolve IT and I can put you on the right path.