Ultimate Backup Solution???

[mGorilla]

I had a Western Digital 250gb HD die on me the other day. It started to make clicking noises. I lost a bunch of important data but have no means of paying for the recovery. So I think I will just save it -- maybe some day I will figure some way to get the data back.

Now I want to figure out what is the best possible to backup data? Should I setup a secondary server with 4x300gb drives? Or should I try tape back-up? Anyone have an idea about the best or safest way about doing this?

~Mike

 

[Pat57]

Hi,

try a software called ontrack easy recovery. It did work for me on a couple of damaged drives (95% recovery of data most of the time)
A server with 4 drives and raid 5 is ideal just make sure that the monitoring software is up to task and can report potential failures.

 

[sailer]

I had a Western Digital 250gb HD die on me the other day. It started to make clicking noises. I lost a bunch of important data but have no means of paying for the recovery. So I think I will just save it -- maybe some day I will figure some way to get the data back.

Now I want to figure out what is the best possible to backup data? Should I setup a secondary server with 4x300gb drives? Or should I try tape back-up? Anyone have an idea about the best or safest way about doing this?

~Mike

The best way is probably to have another hard disc and to make a mirror image of your main disc on this second disc. Do it once a week, or anytime before you make a major change in the operating system. There are several products for making mirror images. I use Norton Ghost, but there are better ones depending on your needs.

 

[Pain]

The best is a relative term, and depends entirely on your budget.

What exactly are you backing up? Are you running a server now? If it's critical data, even a redundant array is not enough.

 

[PCcashCow]

The best is a relative term, and depends entirely on your budget.

What exactly are you backing up? Are you running a server now? If it's critical data, even a redundant array is not enough.

Agree 100%. For the usual price of any Symantec product you can snag a copy of Veritas Back Up Exec.

Depending on what it type of data you want to back up, you can dump in on a small NAS like Netgear and Bufflo offer, or get a use scsi160 tape drive set up.

Raid 1 or better goes without saying in the case as well needing to know what OS your system is running as well how long you leave it up in order to schedule backups.

 

[hubbardt]

Hi,

A mate of mine used a piece of software called Active Undelete (click me !) and it worked for him

You can download a demo first to see how much it can recover and then the full version costs $40. Not bad .....

Good luck !

 

[AngelDeath82]

hubbardt,

Unfortunately, for this person that isn't an option. He didn't have the files accidentally deleted on him, the drive itself went down. This creates an entirely different situation, especially if the drive is permanently down.

If he could boot from another drive with the old drive in as a secondary (storage), he might be able to get the data off using EasyRecovery.

 

[AnorianDeson]

It started to make clicking noises.

If that hard drive is making clicking sounds that are outside of the usual mechanical noises it makes then do not power it on. You are most likely doing more damage to the drive. If this drive has indeed suffered a mechanical failure, it is most likely going to head crash if you power it up, if it hasn't already. Sending it to a recovery lab would run you about $1200-2400 (USD) depending on the lab and services required.

If it is merely a logical failure (i.e. your system crashed, you restarted and the computer said the disk is empty or your partition table is gone), then software recovery tools are an option.

I hope you find a solution, I've had two drives die recently so I knopw what it's like (one head crashed after 7+ years of near continuous operation and one logic failure, partition table lost, recovered using Active @ Partition Recovery).

 

[mGorilla]

Heyo,

I tried freezing my dead drive. I've had luck with that before, unfortunantly to my dismay when I plugged in the drive it continued to click only softer this time. 🙁

I am planning out an entire separate computer to backup important data -- in case this ever happens again. Nothing very powerful, but I want it to have 1.5TB of disk space. But then, what partitions would be the safest to use as to not lose any data or corrupt a drive. And should I partition in 1024bit sectors as opposed to 4096? How large should I set each partition? These are questions I am researching[/i] and am wondering if anyone knows.

Best Regards To All,

~Mike