Home Forums Discussions Problems back up issues

So I have been trying to back up the AC OSBU service and I kept getting error messages. I searched on the ACUB and found the information about port 21 etc. in the firewall. I finally got someone in support to tell me that the issue is my imported files are too large (15.7gb) and the max for the backup currently is 4.0. I haven't read that any where? Is anyone else aware of that? Since I can't back up the imported file (which represents many hours of scanning) how do I keep that file safe? What is the rational reason for using AC backup if you can't backup the entire file? I am perplexed at this. Dave

In V3, the limit of data you could back up was 2GBs. I don't see the limit in V4. However, in Jon's post below, it claims there are no limits. Of course, that doesn't stipulate if that is per backup or total storage. I know AC keeps them for 30 days.

http://www.amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php/topics/13053/Re_V4_Offsite_Backup_issue#Post13053

The biggest limiting factor you would face would be the amount of time it would take to back up 15.7 GBs of data. By my calculations, if one had roughly 2MB/sec of upload speed, it would take about 22.5 hours to upload 15.7GBs.

My server backup to an external hard drive takes four hours. The data is approximately twice the size of your backup, but it is transferred at USB2.0 speeds which is 480MB/sec. Of course, there are other factors present, but you can see why the local backup is doable while that online backup isn't.

A solo practitioner will probably produce 45 to 60 MBs of data files per year (this is just a guestimate). Backup compression will reduce this by 1/4. This can be uploaded in just under a minute at the above speeds. So, online backups of AC is probably meant to backup your databases than your imported items. You can and should back up your imported items to tape or external hard drives along with your data files. It is added protection to back up your databases offsite. You can probably recover from losing your imported items (as bad as it would be), but you really can't if you lose all your notes and scheduling, etc. Plus, it is easier to do incremental backups with the imported items than with the databases IMO.

To be honest, if you want to back up your imported items as well, you would probably be better off using one of the many commercial online storage or back up sites such as iBackup. There are some that do storage and some that do backup and many that will do continuous backups. iBackup is a bit pricey but has the most options and is still much cheaper than ACs.

You can find a good jumping off point here http://online-storage-service-review.toptenreviews.com/

and you can Google online storage and online backup and find many more. You could even make a full backup using the backup program with AC and then back up that file to an online storage site. But, you would still be limited by the size of your backup.

Remember, too, that many online storage or backups will charge by the GB of data stored and also by the amount of bandwidth used.

HTH.

thanks for your reply, Bert. As far as back up goes, I am always worried about what I don't know is not being loaded (Double negative? Makes sense to me). I load up to Mozy Pro but haven't attempted a download. I want something simple and automatic. I thought AC was it but it ain't. The time committed to copying stuff into the Imported Folder is considerable and for them not to include it is a problem.

You mention backing up "imported files and data files". What are the data files you refer to? thanks again. Dave

David,

Bert put me on to BackupAssist. It was pretty easy to set up and is automatic. I get a report every morning of the success or failure of the back up. I still back up to a tape drive on my server but can also back up to external hard drives. I have had to restore files and it was easy to do. You can also look at your back up to see what is there and what is not.

I also use Mozey Pro to back up on-line.

Leslie

I use the AC Automatic Backup Assistant, too but I don't get the report of success or failure in the morning. I've gotten a few failure notices back when AC was having server problems but nothing on a routine basis. If I want to know I have to look in the backup folder that I ccreated but that only tells me about the local backup. Is there something that I'm missing?

@Leslie I forgot you are using Backup Assist. The new version is awesome. I haven't gone to it yet, though. It has an automatic FTP, that can back up offline.

@David Again, to be fair, I don't use AC's backup much on V4. But, in my testing, if you check the box to include imported items, it should back up your imported files and data files. When I say data files I mean basically your databases such as AmazingCharts.mdf, etc. While there may be enough room eventually to back up EVERYTHING offsite, I still think it would be very timely unless you have tremendous bandwidth. The thing I don't like about AC's offsite backup compared to Mozy or iBackup or the other 20 commercial sites, is it is pricier, you can't see your backups and download them to test them without making a test AC program, and it doesn't have nearly the same options as commercial backups such as storage, etc.

BUT, you can set it to back up Imported Items and your Databases and back everything up locally like to an external hard drive.

Backup Assist uses the native NTBackup program that comes with Windows although the newest version is switching to imaging. Imaging is the way to go. But, Backup Assist is reasonable and has many, many features and gives an incredibly detailed report.

If you need another recommendation, Acronis is rock solid. It is an imaging program. Basically, it is an exact snapshot of your computer. It is very easy to browse through it and look at files as if they were the exact ones on your PC.

And, as we all talk about Servers vs non-servers, one big advantage of most Microsoft Server OS is the VSS. I won't go into that, but it makes auto versions of shared folders so that any file in AC is backed up constantly at certain time intervals.

Finally, as far as backing up offsite and trying to back up your Imported Items, why not back up the databases daily (they are mission critical), and only back up the imported items weekly. Not so mission critical.