What I meant about the tapes was this. You could
attach one or more DAT drives to the backup server.
Then, once the nightly backup data is on the backup
server you could copy it from the backup server disks
to tapes. Of course you want to implement one thing at
a time. Just get the backup server working first. Once
that has been working for a week or two then attach
one or more DAT tape drives. After you make sure that
the new devices aren't causing any problems then you
could start copying the backup server's data to tape.
I find that tapes are pretty expensive and it sounds like
your employer is a tiny company, probably with
emphasis on saving money. So I wouldn't purchase
any more tapes. Instead I would look into using
DVD-RW media to copy the nightly backups. You would
have to buy Veritas Backup Workstation to use the
DVD-RW for this, but my DVD-RW drive came with
Veritas Backup software free.
Then you can look into keeping these DVD backup
disks for several weeks before you reuse them.
Then you can look into off site storage. Again, the size
of your employer probably prohibits using Iron
Mountain. In a case like yours I would talk to my
manager and the general manager and propose that
you keep the off site backup DVDs at your house or at
the manager's house. This is DEFINITELY a
NONSTANDARD approach, but having backups off site
outweighs the unusual approach to off site storage. Or
maybe your manager can think of another way to store
the DVDs off site.
This cannot be done overnight. Don't rush it. Take your
time with each step. If you finally get all of this going
your employer will enjoy the benefits of some disaster
recovery planning and if the place burns down you can
replace the business data. For tiny businesses that's
about as good as it gets.
You might also look into the legal requirements for
storing some business data for 7 years or 10 years. It is
a legal requirement and can be used to justify buying a
DVD-RW drive. I recommend the Sony DVD-RW drives.
