Bill Coyle wrote:
 
> We have about 50 Gigs of data and are looking for the fastest backup
> solution.
> Can anyone recommend a solution or company ?
 
Fastest:  Don't back it up.  This sounds odd, but if your modification
rate is low, you have the option of logging changes, backing up
infrequently, and rolling foward if something nasty happens.  On our
bigest server (UNIX with about 50 GIG) we only backup once a week.
 
Next fastest:  Disc to disc.  Expensive, but you could duplicate your
disc stack and use volutil's copyvol command to make a disc to disc
backup.  I did this once, long ago, during an emergency so I can't vouch
for how it would do in a production scenerio, and it doesn't offer
very convient off-site storage ;->
 
Third fastest:  Multiple tape drives.  We currently use MPEX to son
process several STORE commands with derived file lists to five/six DDS
drives.  Still too slow for my taste, but I'm into instant gratification.
However, with DDS drives as cheap as they are, you can stack up quite a
few of them without breaking your budget.
 
Even better, though not faster:  On-line backup.  Before we went with the
MPEX/DDS solution, we looked at TurboStore and the Orbit product (we use
Omniback on the UNIX system - also with about 50 GIG).  For our rather odd
site, TurboStore made the best show.  Feel free to call if you want some
specific insights.
 
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Guy Smith                               Voice:   804-527-4000 ext 6664
Circuit City Stores, Inc.               FAX:     804-527-4116
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The thoughts expressed herein are mine and do not reflect those of my
employer, or anyone with common sense.