Backup Exec right for me?

[Chris_Pettingil]

I'm trying to find a backup solution that will do the following:

- Allow me to do fdaily ull system backups (not just the data) of my Dell Win2k3 SBS (Standard) server. It has a Raid 0 IDE Raid.
- Allow me to do daily full system backups (not just the data) of my 1 WinXP, and 1 Win98 laptop
- Do all backups to a single device (a USB hard drive) attached to my server. Each day I will swap in a different hard drive.
- Allow me to do bare metal restores of all 3 machines. (The laptops will need to be able to be restored across the network).
- Will backup open files on my laptops and server


Backup Exec for SBS sounds good. However some of the documentation says Win98 is supported, while other stuff I've read implies it isn't.

Can I do a full system backup as desrbied above? If not, is there an additional tool (say Norton Ghost 2003) that I could integrate with this solution to backup and restore my Win98 machine as I wish?

Are there additional agents/options I'd need to purchase to accomplish what I want to do?

Is there documentation of which USB hard drives are/aren't supported?

Thanks

[Rucha_Abhyankar]

Hi Chris,

Refer to the following document:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/273710

Also check the software compatibility list also:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/264484

Hope this helps!
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[Jon_Rhoades]

I would suggest you look into Symantec live state recovery.

[Chris_Pettingil]

Live State was the one of the first things I looked at, but I don't think it supports Win98 or backing up of SQL Server, Exchange etc. on my SBS Server.

I'm still a bit unsure about Win98 on Backup Exec. The docs referred to above say that Win98 is supported, but some posts here say Backup Exec doesn't work with Win98.

Win98 aside, I'm not sure if I need additional options beyond just Backup Exec for SBS, if I want to be able to do full system backups of my SBS Server AND my XP laptop, and also be able to do a bare-metal restore of the Server, and the XP laptop.

[Ajit_Kulkarni]

Hello Chris,

Do you mean to say that you want to install Backup Exec application on Windows 98 ?

Did you refer to the SCL sent in previous reply ?

Kindly update.

Regards

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[Marsha_Stout]

Have you installed and ran a trial version of BE? Maybe that you would help you make a decision.

[Chris_Pettingil]

I did read the SCL part about the, "Remote Computer Operating System Compatibility" which includes Win98. But I'm not sure what this means in terms of what functionality I will have on the Win98 machine.

Basically, I need:

- Bare metal restores of my SBS server
- Bare metal restores (from a network drive) of my WinXP laptop, and my Win98 laptop.


I'm reading all sorts of conflicting info about what product(s) I'd need to do this. It looks like either LiveState or Backup Exec would cover my server. It's the laptops that are the problem. I'm not sure if Backup Exec can do full system backups with bare metal restores of my laptops. (The Desktop and Laptop option implies BE only does data backups of workstations). It seems that LiveState will support what I want for my XP machine, but it doesn't work on Win98.

I've been holding off on installing the trials because I'd have to try them on my live machines. And, I'm hoping the questions I'm asking are basic enough that I should be able to get a good answer without having to do trial-and-error with the software myself.

[Shilpa_pawar_2]

Hi,

Backup Exec for Windows Servers (BEWS) provides Intelligent Disaster Recovery (IDR) Option which is like Bare Metal Restore.

For more information on IDR, you can download softcopy of the manual from the following technote:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/279401.

It is a paid option.

Windows 98 is also supported with BEWS 10 SBS. Refer:

http://support.veritas.com/docs/269802

http://support.veritas.com/docs/274621

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[Ken_Onwere]

Apparently Backup Exec does not support hard drive swapping.

[shweta_rege]

Hello Chris,


Could you please Update us on the issue?



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[Chris_Pettingil]

The IDR option seems to first install Windows and then run a restore. I was hoping for something more like LiveState Recovery that (as I understand it) would image my whole HD, and allow me to restore the image quickly without re-installing the OS first, and the restoring files. It doesn't seem that IDR will provide me with a significant time/complexity savings - but maybe I'm missing something.

Also the IDR option does not seem like it works on Win98. I have not found a solution that will work for Win98. Even the Windows built in backup doesn't seem to want to backup up more than (I think) 8 Gig of data from my Win98 machine which has a 40 Gig HD. So, I'm basically trying to really phase out the use of my Win98 machine.

I got trial versions of LiveState Recovery Desktop and Advanced Server 6.0. None of the LiveState Recovery Deskop apps would run on my XP machine - even when I disabled Nortan AV. The sales person CC'ed a Symantec tech person about my issue, but the tech person never contacted me. So I gave up on LiveState Recovery.

So, given all I've found so far, I'm just:
- Really try to phase out my Win98 machine
- Sticking with the built-in NTBackup for my XP machine and Win2k3 SBS Server. (The main problem is that backing up 50+Gig of data on my XP across the network takes 18-24 hours).


PS: I also tried Acronis for my Win98 machine, but I couldn't get it to connect to my server for a restore. I have also read about some issues people have had with Acronis that makes me nervous about relying on that.

[Shilpa_pawar_2]

Hi,

Intelligent Disaster Recovery allows
user to automatically recover operating system . User does not need to
install OS manually. It also automatically restores data.

You could also install the product on a test server in eval mode and test different functionalities!

Please refer BE admin manual:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/279401

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