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Backup cycle with external usb drives

legaleagle
Level 4

I have been following the threads and asking some questions on this topic and I still don't have a clear answer. It seems others are also confused so let me try and ask again.

Is SR ideal for creating a backup cycle (2 weeks/10 drives, in my case) which backs up the entire server each night to an external usb drive? The idea is that the drive is replaced in the monrning with the drive for the next evening without any further user input.

Is the program structured to do this with ease or (as it seems to me) must you resort to workarounds which don't always work? If it can be done is there a step-by-step guide how to do it?

We now have an old version of Backup Exec which was designed to do the above with tapes and worked fine until we grew out of the tapes. I have the option of BE or SR. I prefer SR but I must be sure it can do what I want.

The server is running Exchange SBS 2003.

Many thanks

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Accepted Solutions

criley
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited

Independent backup is just a full backup of the selected volume(s). It does not have to be a full server backup - it can be just C drive for example.

A recovery point set (default option when creating backup) is full+incrementals. This is the difference between the two types of backups.

It should work as long as you have enough space. Be aware that the old backup will only be removed when the new backup is complete (for obvious reasons). This means that whatever you specify in the 'limit the number of sets' section, you always need to add 1 more into your equation when working out how much space is required. This is a common mistake people make.

Hope this helps. Feel free to mark as solution if this has helped you.

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criley
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited

The problem with cycling drives is that SSR gets confused about which drive holds which recovery point. In other words, you have a recovery point set spanned across multiple drives. The problem manifests itself in the way that auto cleanup of recovery points (to ensure that you don't run out of space) does not work properly.

I believe we are looking at addressing this particular issue but have no idea when this fix will be available.

If you are only do full (independent) backups each day, this should not be a problem - so this is one workaround.

Have you considered using offsite copy instead of rotating the actual backup destination?

legaleagle
Level 4

Thank you. That's clear enough.

When you say 'full (independent) backups' do you mean a backup of the entire server as opposed to incremental etc.? Yes that is how we do it.

Does that mean that on week 3 when week 1's drives are overwritten it will still function so long that they are full backups?

criley
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited

Independent backup is just a full backup of the selected volume(s). It does not have to be a full server backup - it can be just C drive for example.

A recovery point set (default option when creating backup) is full+incrementals. This is the difference between the two types of backups.

It should work as long as you have enough space. Be aware that the old backup will only be removed when the new backup is complete (for obvious reasons). This means that whatever you specify in the 'limit the number of sets' section, you always need to add 1 more into your equation when working out how much space is required. This is a common mistake people make.

Hope this helps. Feel free to mark as solution if this has helped you.