Five Windows Server backup tools you can count on

By Jack Wallen February 19, 2012, 11:17 PM PST

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Five Windows Server backup tools you can count on

Introduction

ntIf you have a Windows server and you’re not backing it up, you are tempting fate. It’s only a matter of time before something brings that server down and takes your data with it.

ntLuckily, several reliable backup solutions are available for the Windows Server environment. They aren’t perfect, but they can be depended upon to keep your data safe.

ntNote: If you’d prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog.

Acronis Backup and Restore

ntAcronis Backup and Restore is the backup tool I use the most. It’s costly but well worth it. The newer version does a great job of ensuring that there is room on your external drive for your latest backup. You can overwrite the old backup or go by the traditional cleanup rules established in Acronis Echo.

Acronis Backup and Restore

ntIf you decide to use Acronis, you should also get the Universal Restore feature. It lets you take a full image of a backup and restore it to any hardware that meets the requirements of your platform. Acronis also has add-ons for Exchange and SQL Servers.

Symantec Backup Exec

ntLike Acronis, Symantec offers solutions for Exchange and SQL. And its ability to manage Vaults (backup destinations) is superb. Just make sure that if a Vault is physically (and permanently) removed, you remove it from within the backup software. Otherwise, it will cause problems.

Windows NT Backup

ntI always set up an NT Backup to run once a week (or month, depending upon the needs), just to have it clear the Exchange logs. Otherwise, a lot of unnecessary data would be included in my backups, and their size would get out of hand.

ShadowProtect 4 (Server)

ntShadowProtect 4 is probably the least-known product in this list. But it falls into place next to Acronis as a feature-rich tool that can do everything — including recover to dissimilar hardware. ShadowProtect 4 also includes an easy-to-use tool that allows you to consolidate backup image files and convert the backups to either .VHD or .VMDK virtual machines.

ShadowProtect 4 (Server)

ntShadowProtect 4 offers granular recovery, so you can quickly recover individual files from within a backup. And unique to ShadowProtect is the Virtual Boot technology, which provides for automatic failover to a virtual server.

By Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic, The New Stack, and Linux New Media. He's covered a variety of topics for over twenty years and is an avid promoter of open source. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.

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