Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
BackupHardware
None
Easy SATA
(
http://www.antec.com
)
SYBA SD-ENC50020 Hard Drive Docking Station
(
http://www.syba.com
)
Backing up a multi-terabyte server is a real challenge. Optical discs just don't
cut it. A full backup of a 6 TB server fills more than 1,300 DVD+R discs. Blu-
ray isn't much better; a 6 TB backup fills 240 BD-R discs. And you'd have to sit
there around the clock for several days swapping discs. Tape backup would be
nice, but even an 800 GB LTO Ultrium tape drive runs $1,500 or more, and a
tape changer with enough capacity that's fast enough for backing up a multi-
terabyte server overnight costs as much as a decent used car. And then there's
the cost of the tapes.
That leaves hard drives as the only practical solution. They're inexpensive, fast,
easy to use, and reasonably rugged. A USB 2.0 external hard drive transfers
data at about 30 MB/second, or about 108 GB/hour, so backing up 1 TB of
data would take close to 10 hours. That's much too slow, unless your server
has a relatively small amount of data that needs routine backup. An eSATA
external hard drive or a removable SATA hard drive is much faster than USB 2.0,
because backup throughput is limited by the speed of the hard drives them-
selves rather than the interface. In our tests, a Seagate 7,200 RPM hard drive
transferred data via eSATA at a sustained rate of more than 100 MB/s, or close
to 400 GB/hour.
We listed our first choice of backup hardware as “none” because we didn't ac-
tually install any backup hardware in our home server (well, we did, but only
for the purpose of shooting images for this chapter). Our server runs headless
and is backed up across the network to removable hard drives in Robert's main
desktop system, but many home servers require local backup hardware.
If you need to back up your server locally, our first choice would be either an
Antec Easy SATA, which allows you to install or remove a bare SATA hard drive
simply by sliding it into or out of the frame, or a SYBA hard drive docking sta-
tion. The SYBA unit holds two hard drives, but requires an eSATA port for each.
Since we have only four SATA ports available in this system, three of which are
devoted to hard drives, we decided to install an Antec Easy SATA frame and
allocate the fourth SATA port to it.
Data to Go
At $20 or so, the Antec Easy SATA units are inexpensive enough
that you might want to consider purchasing one or more of
them for each of your systems. If you install all of your hard
drives in these frames, you can simply slide out the drives and
take them with you when you leave the house. You can also
install an empty Easy SATA frame in each of your systems and
use two or three hard drives as a rotating backup set for all of
your systems.
Of course, carrying bare hard drives around risks damaging
them. There are several possible solutions to that problem. First,
some hard drives come packaged in resealable hard plastic
blister packs, which are excellent for transporting and storing
drives. If you don't have those, you can purchase padded hard
drive wallets for each of your drives. Alternatively, if the drives
you purchase are shipped in protective bubble wrap, you can
simply reuse that bubble wrap.
