Storage - Equipment

Backup for Workgroups needs disk-based storage media to hold your clients' (computers') backup data. Your storage group can contain different types of storage devices. The storage devices do not need to match in size or type; the only requirement is that they need to be seen as a hard drive or network share point from Windows.

You can use any disk storage device as long as it appears as a hard drive or network share point inside of Windows. Examples of disk storage devices that you can use include: internal hard drives, external hard drives, USB drives, FireWire devices, NAS devices, SAN devices, RAID storage devices, and any other storage device that appears as a hard drive or network share inside Windows.

If you choose to use NAS and/or Network Share based storage, please read the Special Notes section below.

When selecting equipment to use as your primary storage media, you should consider the speed, capacity and availability of the equipment: 

• Capacity - The amount of storage you need to hold your backup data depends upon (1) the number of computers you plan to backup; (2) the amount of data in use on each of these computer; and (3) the number of revisions each client decides to retain at the Backup Server. You should also allocate a certain amount of room for growth.
   
• Availability - Storage devices in your primary storage group must be online at the time clients' perform backups. If you have more than one storage device in your primary storage group and one of them is offline (unavailable) at the time a client tries to perform a backup, the backup will not run. All of your primary storage devices must be online for backups to run. NAS and network shares tend to have rights access issues which will halt your backup process. You must put mechanisms in place to periodically check for and update/change the rights access at the Backup Server to correspond with any changes made at the NAS or network share.
   
• Speed - The time to perform a backup is influenced by the speed of the storage device. Generally, internal hard drives are faster than external hard drives.  And using RAID storage devices raises a number of issues that are unique to the way the RAID is implemented. For example, RAID-5 is slower than RAID-1 and RAID-6 is slower than RAID-5.  NAS units and network shares tend to slow the backup process down. Some NAS units have slow processors that cannot keep up with the rate at which the backup data arrives. In other words, the backup process will be impacted if you use a NAS unit with a slow processor. Please note that a fast hard drive in a NAS unit with a slow processor will be negatively impacted by the slow processor and you really do not enjoy the benefits of the fast drive.

Special Notes about Using NAS and Network Share Storage

1. Changes to Passwords at NAS and Network Shares Require Identical Change at Backup Server
   
   The most common problem with NAS units and network shares is a CHANGE in access rights. Typically, an Administrator will periodically change passwords or modify accounts. When these passwords and accounts are changed, you need to make the identical change at both the Backup Server and the NAS/network share.
    
2. NAS and Network Shares Slow Down the Backup Process
   
   When you use a NAS device or network share as part of your backup storage equipment, you need to be aware that your backups will be SLOWER than if you used internal hard drives. 
    
3. NAS and Network Shares Can Go Offline - Halting the Backup Process
   
   Because NAS and network shares are independent devices, they can be rebooted at different times, or shut down/turned off, or unavailable for many reasons. We frequently hear from customers who experience an interruption in the backup process because someone shut down the NAS or network share equipment - not realizing that it is being used to hold their backups. In these cases, we recommend that these customers physically label the NAS unit with a note "Do Not Turn Off/Shut Down - Used as Backup Storage" and listing the name of who to contact if the unit needs service helps prevent unnecessary backup interruptions.