Snapshots - essential? Process?

[mdwyer20175]

I THINK I understand that if you use proactive backup, you must use snapshots to look at particular day (e.g, to restore a file xxxxxx.xxx from last Wednesday). But I am not sure understand if they are needed otherwise. I have always used snapshots, but they take a ton of time, and I wonder if my stone-age backup algorithm (based on what Va Tech used to do to backup their "new" 10 Meg -yes, MB- mainframe disks once upon a time) requires them.

 

BACKUP PROCESS

I backup EVERYTHING on Friday, and I backup any file that was modified in the last 32 days on M, T, W, R. Each tape set (autoloader in use) contains only ONE backup set. I have a tapes labeled MON, TUES, WED, THURS and then I have 5 sets of Friday tapes labeled 1ST FRIDAY, 2ND FRIDAY, etc. Each tape set contains only one backup set from each server.

 

RESTORE PROCESS

Typical restores are to drill down through a directory structure in the catalog and pick the file someone deleted or ruined. In the case of disaster, I need to a disaster recovery using a DR CD and one of the friday sets. I have only had to do that once. I use Exchange and SQL and have never had to do a mailbox recover or something, but knock on simulated wood, I am sure that will be necessary at some point.

 

Do I need to use snapshots, given the procedure described above? I guess a good, related albeit loaded, question might be "is this procedure flawed?"

[mdwyer20175]

Ok, I found the snapshot answer on page 306 of the user guide.

 

Without snapshots, you have no registry info (so bare metal restore becomes impossible), plus you lose the directory structure, so bloody hopeless to find a file to restore. So, there is no point to a backup without a snapshot apparently. One wonders what in blue blazes takes so long when cranking out a snapshot. For instance, you oughta be able to backup the directory a bit quicker than that. Oh well, you can't.

[natew]

Hi,

 

The Windows APIs for getting permissions information aren't very well develloped. (Or at least they haven't been up until recently) As a result Retrospect has to collect info for all files on the disk every time a backup runs regardless of which files were actually backed up.

 

Without snapshots you could search for filenames or search by backup dates for files.

 

Thanks

nate

[Eublet]

A big reason why everyone was so disappointed when Microsoft decided to remove WinFS from the upcoming Longhorn. It would have theoretically solved a lot of problems that exist in NTFS.