backup medium for my server

Not really a macbook question. I am in a medical office and we use a proprietary software system. They want us to get a Dell (we use all Macs) tape drive system for $1000 to use as a backup.

We have a server and 10 iMac workstations.

My concern is twofold
1. because these tapes are proprietary, if the drive goes down, the tape can't be read by any other machine. I had this happen a couple of years ago when the tape drive broke and because it was discontinued, I have all 5 daily tapes that could no longer be read and cost almost $100 each. Luckily I have never had to restore from a tape, but if I did, I would have been out of luck.

2. The cost. These drives are expensive. Would it not make more sense to have a couple of 16gig USB flash drives to rotate through. They are more portable and I can do a restore on any networked machine.

Or we can simply do a backup to a networked drive. I like the flash drive better than the last option because it can be moved to a safe part of the office to protect against a water pipe burst or something like that.

Any opinions on this topic

thanks

Note: the total data requiring backup is just under 1 gig

 

for that kind of data backup I would use either:

A . A flash drive ( which is taken offsite daily ) in conjunction with a proper NAS unit with RAID such as a DROBO. you can also backup all other data to the NAS as well, redundancy is good.


B. a NAS unit like above in conjunction with an online databackup so if everything is lost you can repull data from internet. even something as silly as the Windows live skydrive or adrive.com can cover your behind quite well.

the Dell Tapedrive well I agree avoid the bloody things.

 

You need to be careful with small devices that can be slipped in to a pocket and walk off. If this contains personal data it also needs encryption. I would recommend a NAS even though probably an over kill does provide reliable service. If you already have rack mounted equipment a 4 drive NAS will work good.

Depending on budget, NAS enterprise class can be expensive.

 

LOL!!!!!

Yeah, the tape backup might be overkill...

You can get a device that'll let you connect USB flash or hard drives to the network, and do network backup using that.

 

thank you for reminding about using an external drive with encryption, I have a bad habit of assuming all businesses use a lockable or encrypted drive

Too many years of doing corperate networks I guess

 

I'm really not very worried about security (ie: someone walking off with my data) so much as having an easy backup method that is easily restored should need be.

 

then option A or B is still my reccomendation you should ALWAYS have some sort of offsite backup incase the place burns to the ground.