Data Backup - The Options - Old & New, Good & Bad
In today's modern business environment, we all know how reliant we are on computer systems, and the information contained within them.
It is hard to think of the old days, no mobile phones, fax machines, or internet.
Manual paper based systems have long since been replaced and the format changed to digital.
A computer system is only as good as the data held within it.
Modern systems on the whole are very reliable, but every now and then problems can occur.
Data on a computer system is held on a hard drive.
This device is a magnetic, mechanical device with parts spinning at thousands of revolutions per minute.
As the hard drive becomes older, the possibility of failure increases.
What procedures do you have in place in the event of this happening? Hopefully something other than keeping your fingers crossed! A peer to peer network consists of a number of computers networked together, each working as part of a group, each with their own hard drives containing their own programs and information, but sharing resources and information throughout the group.
If one individual computer on the network fails, it may not be a disaster, but it certainly could be an inconvenience if data contained within it is lost.
A client server network has a central file server containing the most important programs and data, with clients or workstations requesting information from the central server.
Due to the nature of this network structure, backup considerations are paramount.
If data failure occurs on this network file server, then all users stop working.
In real terms, this type of operation and its reliance is similar to a company that runs on a standalone computer, obviously in bigger terms.
If the main computer or server goes down, the computing resource goes down.
There are many different options for data backup available.
Choosing the correct backup system can make a massive difference in determining what happens should a data problem occur.
If you choose the wrong type of backup system, or choose something that is inadequate, then at some point in time headaches and problems are going to occur.
3.
5" Floppy Disk Drive Pretty much a thing of the past, although computers that have been in operation for a number of years may occasionally still use this format for data backup.
These disks are pretty much inadequate nowadays, they only store 1.
44MB of data and are slow and quite unreliable.
CD-RW Disk Drive Probably the entry level format for data backup.
CD's are very cheap, easily available and can store up to 700MB of data on-board.
Handy for backing up a section of data, but due to the size limitation of 700MB, it is unlikely that anyone would ever attempt a full system backup using this format, or even make this their primary backup format.
DVD-RW Disk Drive Very similar to CD-RW and also very cheap, but using DVD's instead, giving much increased capacity, with standard DVD's coping with 4.
7GB of data.
Double layer disks store up to 8.
5GB and again are a cheap option.
USB Data Key Simple small key drives which fit into USB ports to give a temporary extra drive; these are very handy and portable with sizes up to 32GB available now.
Tape Drive Travan drives, Micro-DV Tape and DAT are the most common.
Travan drives are slower with less storage capability.
DAT tapes come in a couple of sizes - 4mm and 8mm tapes which store up to 40GB.
On the whole, DAT drives are reliable, but care must be taken to rotate backup tapes and keep the drive clean.
With this format being mechanical in nature, along with other storage devices, they can fail as they become older or through extensive use.
Because they tend only to be installed on the central file server, care must be taken across the rest of the network to make sure any locally stored data on workstations is additionally backed up if necessary.
It is hard to think of the old days, no mobile phones, fax machines, or internet.
Manual paper based systems have long since been replaced and the format changed to digital.
A computer system is only as good as the data held within it.
Modern systems on the whole are very reliable, but every now and then problems can occur.
Data on a computer system is held on a hard drive.
This device is a magnetic, mechanical device with parts spinning at thousands of revolutions per minute.
As the hard drive becomes older, the possibility of failure increases.
What procedures do you have in place in the event of this happening? Hopefully something other than keeping your fingers crossed! A peer to peer network consists of a number of computers networked together, each working as part of a group, each with their own hard drives containing their own programs and information, but sharing resources and information throughout the group.
If one individual computer on the network fails, it may not be a disaster, but it certainly could be an inconvenience if data contained within it is lost.
A client server network has a central file server containing the most important programs and data, with clients or workstations requesting information from the central server.
Due to the nature of this network structure, backup considerations are paramount.
If data failure occurs on this network file server, then all users stop working.
In real terms, this type of operation and its reliance is similar to a company that runs on a standalone computer, obviously in bigger terms.
If the main computer or server goes down, the computing resource goes down.
There are many different options for data backup available.
Choosing the correct backup system can make a massive difference in determining what happens should a data problem occur.
If you choose the wrong type of backup system, or choose something that is inadequate, then at some point in time headaches and problems are going to occur.
3.
5" Floppy Disk Drive Pretty much a thing of the past, although computers that have been in operation for a number of years may occasionally still use this format for data backup.
These disks are pretty much inadequate nowadays, they only store 1.
44MB of data and are slow and quite unreliable.
CD-RW Disk Drive Probably the entry level format for data backup.
CD's are very cheap, easily available and can store up to 700MB of data on-board.
Handy for backing up a section of data, but due to the size limitation of 700MB, it is unlikely that anyone would ever attempt a full system backup using this format, or even make this their primary backup format.
DVD-RW Disk Drive Very similar to CD-RW and also very cheap, but using DVD's instead, giving much increased capacity, with standard DVD's coping with 4.
7GB of data.
Double layer disks store up to 8.
5GB and again are a cheap option.
USB Data Key Simple small key drives which fit into USB ports to give a temporary extra drive; these are very handy and portable with sizes up to 32GB available now.
Tape Drive Travan drives, Micro-DV Tape and DAT are the most common.
Travan drives are slower with less storage capability.
DAT tapes come in a couple of sizes - 4mm and 8mm tapes which store up to 40GB.
On the whole, DAT drives are reliable, but care must be taken to rotate backup tapes and keep the drive clean.
With this format being mechanical in nature, along with other storage devices, they can fail as they become older or through extensive use.
Because they tend only to be installed on the central file server, care must be taken across the rest of the network to make sure any locally stored data on workstations is additionally backed up if necessary.
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