USB hard drive as backup media

[JB_Welna]

I am using Backup Exec 2010 R2 to backup an SBS 2008 server. We are utilizing 3 USB hard drives as media, compression, and encryption. We are rotating the USB drives daily. The backup job writes to a drive pool that contains the 3 USB hard drives.

Are the removable USB hard drives considered B2D or RB2D? I originally thought they would be considered B2D, as they don't technically have removable media (like a REV drive), but an article I recently read cast some doubts. I am having some issues utilizing the media fully.

Does it really matter, and what is best practice? From what I can tell, B2D permits concurrent jobs writing to the same media (which I really don't care about), and RB2D permits media spanning (which I am trying to avoid). Is that correct? If I don't want the backup job to ask for additional media (another hard drive), should I use B2D because it doesn't allow media spanning?

Thanks,

Joe Welna

[Ken_Putnam · Accepted solution]

Are the removable USB hard drives considered B2D or RB2D?

They should be defined as standard B2D.. R-B2D is designed for devices where the hardware stays connected, but media is removeable - like Jazz or RDX drives

B2D permits concurrent jobs writing to the same media (which I really don't care about), and RB2D permits media spanning (which I am trying to avoid

Correct on both counts

If I don't want the backup job to ask for additional media (another hard drive), should I use B2D because it doesn't allow media spanning?

Correct

Also, (For What Its Worth) R-B2D devices can only be in the root of the drive.  Standard B2D devices can be anywhere on the drive

[JB_Welna]

Thanks!