# Best backups for Windows Server 2008



## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

Hello guys,

is it just me? i hate tape backups, i have always had a problem with them.
anyway i plan to back up 300GB of server data (company files etc) to 4 or 5 x 1TB hard drives
and i dont want to use any backup utility that compresses or puts the data into its own propriotory type file.
i just want a plain copy of the data that i can copy back to the server if there is a problem, or the server crashes.
i was using backup exec 12 for sbs2003, it was a nightmare, and the one time i had to recover a mailbox for outlook 2003 
it took me like a whole weekend. 

anyway my problem is this...is there a copy util i can use for server 2008 that will let me keep a history of maybe a month.

say if i copy 300GB to hdd 1 then to 2 then 3 ...as i swop the drives, but it will delete the oldest copy when space is low.
is there such a thing or will this need to be done with batch files

your input would really be valuable

thanks
pk


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

I would stick with Backup Exec if you had already paid for it. It is like any utility that you use for backups in that you are going to have to take the time to learn how to use it properly for creating backups and recovering the data. Exchange backups will always be a pain and you have to learn how to restore them correctly. If you want something better you are going to have to spend some money and it will not be cheap, don't skimp on your backups unless you really don't care about the data.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

"don't skimp on your backups unless you really don't care about the data." 1000% agree ROCK!!!
im not using exchange anymore, using gmail now. i was using backup exec on sbs2003 server
but not anymore on the upgraded 2008 server. 

thanks for the input


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Just making backups locally is also a sure way to lose all of your data at some point.


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## mvirata (Feb 17, 2011)

Our company uses Replay by Appassure. It's pretty neat, it backs up any physical server to a virtual one. So if you are virtualized on VMware if that physical server dies, you can bring it up on a VMware server immediately. It does file systems and exchange as well, mailbox and files restores are a cinch. We have our file systems backing up every hour and restoring is quick and painless.

We combine this with a product Veeam, which does the same thing but it backs up virtual servers. It's pretty good we don't really need to run tape backups anymore, we export our servers to external HDs via an esata connection.

Obviously not a quick and easy solution, but something to consider.


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## srhoades (May 15, 2003)

The built in backup with Server 2008 will do what you want.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

that sounds pretty good...but is that all on the same LAN? i have to agree with Rockn...if its in the same site, its a danger...what if some malicious fool hacks in and deletes everything?

still i like the idea of having a backup server that will run if something goes wrong...


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## helix2301 (Dec 2, 2011)

I agree our incremental backups have saved us a few times when we corrupted a server during an upgrade or an update cycle. Exchange gave us some issues as well with backup exec go into the client setting on the server and create a backup service account that is part of the exchange admins group, scheme admins and domain admins. That might fix the issue.


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

helix2301, I'm editing out the links in all your posts. Feel free to add a link in your signature line, but please do not add them to the general thread of your post, it will be reported as spam.

Thanks, 

v


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