mleiser Posted July 18, 2003 Report Share Posted July 18, 2003 I have a backup running every night. Say that I'm up to DVD number 3. The backup program will back up modified and new files to the DVD number 3. Is it possible to have different DVD's that I swap each night? In other words, I'll have number 3 in the drive tonight, tomorrow I'll remove it to take home and leave a number 4 dvd in the drive, the next night I'll take home 4 and leave number 3 in the drive. Is that possible or will the program get confused and ask for the number 3 until it's full? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 23, 2003 Report Share Posted July 23, 2003 Mike, It sounds like you want to have one set of data on site and then another set off site? If so what you should do is create two backup sets and rotate between them. A lot of users will create a set for Mon/Wed/Fri and another for Tues/Thurs. All you need to do is add both sets to your script and then schedule the backup to go to the right set on the corresponding day. Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mleiser Posted July 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2003 Except for one issue. It's true I want a separate backup to take offsite. However, I'm using one DVD writer drive and I can't guarantee I'll have the correct physical DVD (like #3 from Backup D) in the drive on the correct night. So, what I'm looking for is to set up a backup and it shouldn't care which DVD I put in. That way I can swap them whenever I want and take one home. It actualy doesn't sound possible, but I was just wondering. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 29, 2003 Report Share Posted July 29, 2003 Hi Mike, A lot of people seem to want the same thing. Unfortunately doing it that way makes restores an absolute nightmare. Dantz chooses to make you work a little harder with the backup so your restores are easy. It is kind of a hack but you could try this: set the media time out to 20 minutes and schedule a backup to all of your backup sets every night. Retrospect will esentially skip the backups it does not have media for and perform the backups on the set that is in the drive. Your log will have a lot of errors but it should at least get 1 backup. Otherwise you could use proactive backup to do the same thing - it is a lot more flexible. The downside is that you need at least Retrospect single server for that. Good luck! Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mleiser Posted July 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2003 Sounds interesting. On that thought, if I have a Backup set D and a Backup set E and they're both set for backups of any changes - If it's doinf D it'll back up all changed files since the last D backup. If I do E it'll do the changed files since the last E backup, even if I just backed up the changes to the D backup? In other words, if this is true, the backups are set dependant. If I have your idea correct, I could set uo the two backups, D and E, basically identical types of backups for identical files, leave a different one in the drive each night I decide to take one home. Sounds like a plan. Here's another issue. Based on what you're saying, you can't have a round robin backup for one backup set. Like on Monday I want to use DVD1 for backup set A, on Tuesday DVD2, Tues DVD3, etc. so if I lose a DVD I have the last days? Would that work? Probably not based on the above. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted July 30, 2003 Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 Hi You are correct, backups are set dependent. The files that get backed up are based on what is already copied into each set. In other words "Backup set A" is totally indepentent from "Backup set B" meaning you have 2 complete backups. Your round robin idea is textbook "old school" backup. It works but you end up burning up a lot of media that way and full restores are really messy. That is why retrospect uses the backup set concept and writes to a disk until it is full. Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mleiser Posted August 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 I understand what you're saying, but what happens if you lose the one DVD that you were burning, and as usual you don't find out there's anything wrong until you try to restore. Do you have an easier method to get a "second set" home, maybe not every night, but on occasion? Understand that my backups work at night while I'm not in the office. So I can't play with swapping DVD's. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Hi The best way around this is to take the whole set off site. The truth is - human error is the biggest problem in backup. No matter what system you use a lost peice of media means lost data. I would try to make a backup set rotation schedule and stick by it as best you can. That is the only way to be really safe...aside from moving to the Tahiti and throwing your computer out the window Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaikow Posted August 4, 2003 Report Share Posted August 4, 2003 Also, it appears necessary to check what's on the media. I've been pretty good about backing up the Retrospect catalog files and config65.dat to CD-RW media, no problem doing that. Today, I inserted the CD-RW in the CD-ROM drive on the same system and it showed NO files. I then reformatted the CD-RW, copied the files to the CD-RW and was then able to see the files using the CD-ROM drive. So, it pays to check periodically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 5, 2003 Report Share Posted August 5, 2003 Hi The files on your backup disks will NEVER show up in windows explorer. The only way to access the data on your CDs is using Retrospect. Also you must always use a writable drive to access the disks. Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaikow Posted August 5, 2003 Report Share Posted August 5, 2003 The files in which the disk backup set are recorded do show up in Windows Explorer. The individual files within the back up set do not. One does not have to use a writable drive to view the files in Windows Explorer. A plain ole CD-ROM will do as long as you have the equivalent of the EasyWrite Reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 Hi You are correct about "disk" backup sets but I was specifically talking about CD and DVD backup sets. You cannot read CD or DVD media that you used with Retrospect in Windows Explorer. The disks will most likely show up as full but containing no data. Dantz's line on reading cd and dvd disks is that you need a write enabled drive to do it. Otherwise all bets are off as to if Retrospect will be able to recognize the data on the media. Sorry for the confusion Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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