[X4U] Re: Backup Strategies - Need Recommendations!

[Steve Upton]

><snip>
>Backing up from my Server to a Firewire drive on my workstation just
>with a Finder copy works fine. However, backing up User accounts from
>various workstations I have had mixed results, with MacOS X complaining
>about I don't have sufficient permissions for some items to copy to my
>backup area on the server. Often after tinkering with the user
>directory, it turns out to be an obscure preferences for a program that
>I've long since deleted from the workstation. Deleting the offending
>file is often the only way past it, as trying to change permissions
>from the Finder or using Disk Utility to repair permissions doesn't
>always work.
>
>Therefore, I'm now looking for a good commercial backup program for my
>server and my network, and is smart enough to get past any permission
>problems, and finally, a smart copy that only backs up the files that
>have changed, as the amount of data I must now backup requires that
>level of efficiency (each of 3 crucial volumes on my server contain an
>average of 12GB of important data). I tried Retrospect a couple of
>times, but that was well before switching to MacOS X about a year and
>1/2 ago, and I wasn't too impressed with it then. Has anyone used Data
>Backup by Prosoft Engineering? It looks promising and it looks like I
>can outfit several workstations economically.

you probably need to take a look at Retrospect again. There is a workgroup version that will handle your server and also back clients up over the network. Once you get your head around it (any any backup solution takes a bit of that) you'll probably find that it will do what you want, and do it reliably and well.

I have a small company that we run from an OS X server and backup regularly with Retrospect to Firewire hard drives. I tried many different tape systems and wasted too much money before I finally just bought 3 IDE drives and 3 external Firewire enclosures and rotate them out. Our server, desktops and powerbooks all back up to them and it works well. More and more people and companies are backing up to disks as their cost per gig is lower than tape, they are more reliable and much faster to retrieve from. (our ISP now does all their backups to firewire disk)

Regards,

Steve

________________________________________________________________________
o  Steve Upton              CHROMiX        www.chromix.com
o   (hueman)                               866.CHROMiX
o    upton at chromix.com                     206.985.6837
o  ColorGear   ColorThink   ColorValet   ColorSmarts   ProfileCentral
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