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Backup to USB drives.

Wayne_P
Level 2

Hi,

I thought I had seem some articles about how to backup to USB attached drives.  I can't seem to locate them, so could someone point me in the right direction?  I have 4 1TB USB attached drives.  One of them gets attached to the server every Tuesday (only day it can be done) but I can't seem to get the drives to operate reliably.

I've several questions:

Should all the drives have the same drive letter?

Should BE automatically recognize that the drive has been attached/detached?

What should the retention period be since this will be a 4 week rotation - for the most part.

I've used BE with tape previously so a bit familiar with it, but not with all the ins and outs, unfortunately.

Thoughts please?

Thanks!

 - Wayne

 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi Wayne,

 

The best article to read on this subject was written by another Trusted Advisor, pkh.

Really goes into how external HDDs should be used with BE.

If it helps you, give it a thumb's up too! wink

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/how-rotate-external-harddisks

I'd also take a look at the best practices for media management TN from Symantec...

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO13286

Cheers!

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pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

How you set your OPP is not related to whether you rotate your HDD or not.  You should set your OPP according to how long you need to keep your data.

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3 REPLIES 3

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi Wayne,

 

The best article to read on this subject was written by another Trusted Advisor, pkh.

Really goes into how external HDDs should be used with BE.

If it helps you, give it a thumb's up too! wink

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/how-rotate-external-harddisks

I'd also take a look at the best practices for media management TN from Symantec...

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO13286

Cheers!

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

How you set your OPP is not related to whether you rotate your HDD or not.  You should set your OPP according to how long you need to keep your data.

Wayne_P
Level 2

@pkh:

So if I have 4 external drives, and each one gets installed on a Tuesday, how long do I set my OPP for? 

That's a part that I'm not getting.  I looked at your article - thanks!  I'll do that setup this weekend, but I'm still not sure on the OPP setup.  I'd like to set it at 21 days so that it's clear to be overwritten the next time it gets connected.  You said that rotation doesn't matter for OPP (well, I'm paraphrasing I think) but it still has to be shorter than the rotation period.

Somewhere I read (or heard) that I should do a full, and then incremental on the same drive for that one week, and keep going like that.  Drive 1, Tuesday - full, W-M - incremental.  Change to Drive 2 on the next Tuesday and same routine. 

I've never been a fan of incrementals but that does seem pretty good as the backups will be quicker.

Thoughts or ideas or comments?

Thanks!

 - Wayne