Backup with Data Protector Express Single Server Edition v4.0 SP1

[Tom Millette]

Just trying to do a simple backup of one server. I've never worked with a more hostle peice of software in my life. OK. We have purchased a DAT160 USB 2.0 to backup a Windows 2000 Server. We installed the software on the server and tried our best to make this thing work. We setup a backup job with making one addition in the options to eject the tape when complete. The job runs anywhere between 20 - 40% then it can't find the tape drive, or file or numerous other errors. I'm at the point of moving the Tape drive to a windows XP workstation and running from there. If thats possable with this version. The more I read the installation instructions the more confused I get. Am I missing something here? Maybe the USB drive was a mistake but can anyone help me out here. The hair on my head is getting very thin. Thanks Much

[André Noordermeer]

Dear Tom,
When I first got started on this software my opinion was much like yours.
My biggest problem in the end were my preconceived ideas about how things were expected to work, which were based on expeciences with other software like arcserve and symantec backup.

DPX works a bit different and once you get the hang of it you'll probably like it better.

Like with any situation where things don't go as expected, try first a small manual backup job, just a couple of large files, a few MB.
When it goes, put it on a schedule and forget about tape rotation.
Then play with extra options + advanced options.
Then expand the backup selection.

And remember that Win2000 was designed in a time when USB did not exist, so it's always been much more tricky with regards to drivers, etc. in this area.
XP is much better in this area so installing on that platform might be a way of proving that the hardware is actually good.
On 2000 you'll have the additional problem of inability to backup files while in use. This is handled by volume shadow copy on later OSs.

In one situation where I did not get things to work properly I reverted to good old Windows Backup + task scheduler. Backup wrote the backup file to a file share on a different server, here the file was put to tape later by DPX. The reasons for this have been fixed in updates btw. so it does not run like this anymore.

Cheers, André

[Tom Millette]

Thanks Andre for the reply. Yes, I'm an Arcserve and BackupExec user for many years. Like 35 years of this stuff. This program blew me away. Not at all what I expected. I'll remove it from the server and try the XP workstation. Will this version let me backup the server from the workstation? If so, problem solved. If not, what do I need? I seem to get more confused reading the installation guide. I can't seem to find the answer if it will or not and how to install what peices I need on server and the workstation to make it work. If I can run this way, could you tell me what software I need on each one. Thanks again.

Tom

[André Noordermeer · Accepted solution]

The DPX-SSE is the free version and does not allow backup accross LAN. You would have to upgrade (at a small cost).
Faced with a similar situation once I just ran NT-Backup and let it write its output as a file to a network share on the box where DPX was running, now I did a local backup of this file.
Drawback: a restore takes much more time and handling, because of the 2-step procedure (worst case).
If you would decide to upgrade, then you'll have a different situation. That version is installed on both boxes and the tape server copy connects to the agent on the other box to do its thing.
Cheers, André

[Tom Millette]

You know. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I just loaded a trial version of Backup Exec and it works great. It may cost a few bucks but the savings in the learning curve makes it worth it. LOL!!! Thanks for all your help.