"Recycle backup" question

[markderrick]

Quick question regarding the "recycle backup" method.

As Retrospect erases the existing backup set before starting a full backup under this option, what method are people currently using to ensure that backed up data will be available should the server suffer a fatal crash during a recycle backup?

 

IE: Retrospect erases the backup media, begins to do a full backup, and then the server's hard drive fails.

 

I'm currently doing a "duplicate" action a few hours before a "recycle", just curious if there's a better/neater/easier solution?

 

Thanks.

[matthews]

Are you backing up to a single set?

[markderrick]

Yup, Retrospect backs up to one set stored on a RAID drive.

I guess breaking it down to several sets would allow you to always have the other sets last backup as a fall back.

 

I did look at moving to running daily sets - I have the space, just thought it might be a little but of an overkill.

[ericrow]

You should really be thinking about running at least 2 sets. I would be more worried about your RAID breaking during normal use than the server crashing just after a recycle backup. Or perhaps even more likely, getting some pesky retrospect error (bad header, chunk checksum ..) that could render your whole set useless.

 

I rotate (tape) sets weekly (I have 5 sets) and recycle them at staggered intervals. Dailys would be even better but I don't want to have to go to the server room every day to change tapes (no library).

 

You should keep the sets on different physical drives too in case your RAID fails badly on you (You didn't specify the configuration of your RAID).