NT4 Backup

If you use Windows NT, there is a good chance that you use it for professional use, especially
if you are networking NT systems.

You MUST protect your data against
the different reasons of loosing data !

Please, make yourself familiar with 3 Rules of Backup and the backup methods / strategies.

For a standalone NT4-workstation, the Backup utility included in NT4 will work ok, but for
a Server configuration, you may want to purchase a more advanced backup program, making
the management of Media sets and the backup of Clients PC's via the network much more easy.

Before you can use the Windows NT Backup, make sure, that in the Tape-Applet of the
Control-Panel the drivers for the SCSI-DDS drive or Floppy-Streamer/Travan-Streamer
are properly installed and running.

	Windows NT includes a basic Backup program as part of the Administrative Tools.
	Verify first, that the Backup-software is using the proper tape-device by checking in the menu: "Operations" the "Hardware Setup".
	In this example, both a Floppy-Streamer and a SCSI-DDS drive are installed, so one needs to be selected.

The Main Window shows the sub-window for "Tapes" and "Drives":

If the "Drives"-window is selected, you can make "Backups".


If the "Tapes"-window is selected, you can make "Restores"

Backup:
In the "Drives"-window, you can select to make a Backup of a complete drive by putting a Check-mark on the drive:

or Double-click the drive to select single files or subdirectories for backup:

Note: the "grayed" Check-mark on the drive in the main-Drives window indicates, that only
some selected files/directories and NOT the complete drive has been selected for backup.

Once the selection is done, press the button: "Backup":

This was a new/empty tape, so we can only make as Operation: "Replace", we can define
a "Tape-Name", a name for this "Backup Set" and the Backup-Type:
normal (copying ALL selected files) or Incremental (copying only the files modified/
created since the last backup).
Once the parameters are define, select OK.

The Backup-process will start by first rewinding the tape, then it will start writing files:

The status window shows the directory and file, currently been written to tape, and the
process information (Elapsed Time and total number of Directories, Files and Bytes processed).

The backup is completed.
Note: on this SCSI-DDS drive, the system had a performance of approx. 10 MByte/Min !

If we now make an additional backup to the same tape, we have now the option to define:

Replace (=DELETE) the data currently stored on the tape
Or:

Append (ADD) the data to the tape as an additional "Backup set":




Restore:

On "Restoring", we select in the "Tape"-window one of the "Backup-Sets".

By putting a Check-Mark on the complete Set, all data will be restored:


To restore only selected directories/files, double-click on a backup-set, it will then read the "catalog" (=content of all files stored) from the tape:

allowing now to select now the files/directories to be restored:

Once the files to be restored have been selected, click the button "Restore":

Select now, whether to restore the files to its original location (disk-drive/path) or to a new location, then OK to continue/read the file from tape:

	The Menu: "Operations" also allows to "Erase Tapes"
	The Menu: "Operations" allows to "Eject the tape" (saving you the effort to push manually the eject button the the DDS drive).

Making backups of an NT4-server is important and is often done, but connected users keep
a lot of their files on their local disks, and are they making their own backups ? (most probably NOT ...)

You could map network drives from the server to these client PC's to gain access, but
the better solution is to use an advanced backup program, like Cheyenne "ARVsrve" or
Veritas "Backup Exec":

In addition to advanced Media set management, these packages allow to use Backup Agents, which are installed on Client PC's, allowing the Server Backup to access the local disks and to make the backup via the network to the server Backup media. Such agents are defined on a Windows95/98 systems as part of the Network setup:

The (optional) status icon of the Backup-agent in your toolbar allows you to monitor the progress of any backup (once it is running)