Bad experience with IDR

[backupsamurai]

In response to:

Hi Graham,

This ends up posted here all the time.

1. Forget about IDR
2. Install Windows on your new server
3. Install Veritas
4. Restore data

Honestly, if IDR is complicating things for you, it certainly isn't helping make things easier than just doing it manually.

Honestly the truth couldnt be more plain tried to create IDR boot disk using the preperation wizard and get hung on the boot CD creation process, and looking @ this previous post more problems lay await even wen u create the IDR boot disk not user freindly experience.

Who can afford to spend hours trying to get IDR to work like its supposed to when obviously it isnt 100% fool-proof.

Ive run into a similiar experience with Server Backup 2008 were they have an option to store your backup via a network folder which turns out to be inaccessible when u use ASR as the server is stuck into a workgroup during the process. Tried multiple times and ended up with a failure after 5 hours.

Turns out you have to store the backup on a dedicated drive to acheive restore from ASR.

From my experience use the first method mentioned above and forget IDR I dont know why its even included within Backup Exec 2010.

[teiva-boy]

IDR is junk for 98% of all use cases.  You need to spend a LOT of time to get it going and going right initially.  But once that heavy lifting is done, it does work for the most part.  It is not a set and forget feature.  It is not something you can just configure and work on the first test.  It never works on the first test.  

Much like people are supposed to test you backups periodically! 

That said, while I echo some of your sentiment about IDR, and it just needs to die...  It does work and has worked.  But again, it takes quite a bit of upfront work to make it work reliably.  Not to mention, you need to test it on each and every hardware platform you have running as IDR is hardware specifc.  

Of course Symantec would rather have you buy Symantec BackupExec System Recovery or whatever the heck they are calling it these days (I've stopped keeping track at this point)

[Ken_Putnam]

I've never seen the need for IDR myself.  It doesn't do anything you wouldn't do in the same situation, and it does everything you would, except it's all behind the stupid wizard.

When a production system is down, I don't want ANYTHING filtering any messages the OS I'm working on is sending me.

I realize that as originally designed, IDR was meant as an aide to non-technical people to assist them in re-building a system, but for all it's designed purpose, it is really is a POS in general

[Colin_Weaver]

Although IDR does have it's place the usual recommendation from Symantec is to combine Backup Exec standard backups for File system and System state etc with a slightly less regular Symantec System Recovery (Backup Exec System Recovery as it used to be called) Image level backups which aloow a quicker recovery of the operating system.. SSR does have enhancements reagrding hand,ling dissimilar hardware as well.