Simple back up for medical office, help please

[timan]

Hi, I am new to this forum and have learned a great deal reading through the website, many thanks so far !
Now on to my question. I live and work in Vietnam, not a place known for the greatest of tech support. I have a friend who has a couple of dental offices all are running Windows server 2003, with up to 15 client computers running xp pro.
I am no networking genius, however I can get around xp quite well. My problem is this.
There are NO back up systems in place what so ever, if he loses the HD in the server he is out of business !
I need advice on a NAS or external HD based back up solution.
I want to completely back up the server nightly, and there may be some folders in the accountants offices that I would like to back up also, as I think some are not stored on the sever. However I think to keep things simple I will move them there.
We are not talking about an enormous amount of data, possibly 150 gigs at this time. The actual database and shared files probably amount to about 10 gigs, the rest is pictures and music. He is talking about doing some streaming video to the patients while working on them, so this could grow enormously.

So put the video streams on the NAS ?

I have no knowledge of the finer points of setting this type of system up.
BTW server has gigabit ethernet. I will connect via gigabit to the NAS.
I would like advise regarding the direction that I should go in....
Some information that may be helpful,
the clients run just a couple of applications that require databases and there are a few shared folders that are changed daily.
Should I store an image of the server, then do incremental back ups on a daily basis of the data bases ? Or would I get the kind of transfers speeds to efficiently back up the entire server nightly ? I am basically preparing for a hard drive or complete server failure.
In the case the HD fails, I believe if I put an identical HD in the server and restore the image things should return to normal with a restore from the NAS to the new hd, then just copy over the new database files ,(if you kind folks advise me not to completely back up the server nightly). The other possibility is complete failure of the server and loss of not only the HD but possibly the mobo so I consider the idea of the incremental back up of the databases and shared files so that if I do have to reinstall on a new system I have those files available to me.
I hope I have stated my concerns clearly enough so that I can get some help from those in the know. Also hardware and software suggestions and capacities are most welcome. Budget is about $500 but could be adjusted upward with good cause.
Also thinking of RAID 1....two copies of the back up. Open to all ideas and suggestions.
Thanks VERY much...
More questions.....If I do raid one on the NAS, can I simply pop a drive out of it and into the server ( But then I have to consider the drives in the NAS have to match the server drives) ? Of course I would then need another place to put the video streams so maybe an external HD for that ????????? Would USB 2 transfer data fast enough to stream video ?
Oh, and one more thing...the genius who set up the network has most of the clients on WIRELESS ! so will the 10/100 wireless transfer fast enough to stream high quality video ? The through put on the wireless network is actually quite good, I have run some speed tests and see up to 70 Mbs.
Then again there is allways the possibility of eliminating the NAS and going with two external drives. One to do the daily server back up, hopefully bit by bit so I can just swap them and another for the video.
Looks like I have a mess on my hands and really need some help !

 

[thiggins]

It really helps if you separate multiple subjects into multiple threads.

Simplest thing to do would be backup to an attached drive, rotating multiple drives and taking one offsite each night. If you want to do a "bare metal" backup in case of server drive failure, then you'll need to run a backup program capable of that, on the server. I don't have any specific backup program suggestions. I'm sure others will.

You can't move a drive from a NAS to the server. They have completely different operating systems and drive formats.

RAID 1 won't help you if you have a motherboard or power supply failure on the server, only drive failure. I sure hope you have the server on a UPS.!

Unless you are talking web-quality video (which you would have to pre-process the files for), 802.11g wireless isn't fast enough. I would separate business-critical files and data from the wireless streaming idea.

 

[claykin]

If you want to do a "bare metal" backup in case of server drive failure, then you'll need to run a backup program capable of that, on the server. I don't have any specific backup program suggestions. I'm sure others will.

My pick for bare metal recovery. Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery Server Ed. Others you can look @ StorageCraft's Shadowprotect and Image for Windows from Terabyte Unlimited. I suspect you'll really like the price of Image for Windows and yes it works!

 

[timan]

Thanks..cleared up a lot of my worries...

Hi thiggins, yes, sorry i did not post in seperate threads, stream of conciousness post. thanks for your guidance and info....good adcive and helps me to see more clearly the direction I should be going in.....more replies all ways welcome and any others ideas/ suggestion

 

[mamexp]

I dont mean to go off topic, but should this be addressed with an IT company? Your friend is a business owner who should have hired an IT company to set up a proper infrastructure. After all its a small office it should be extremely easy using off shelf program.

So this raise up my next questions, are you hired to do this?

I'm curious as i'm also in VietNam. I found it hard to believe that your friend didnt actually hire an IT company to setup his office. He clearly didnt value his business enough to invest in a proper IT infrastructure.

Moreover, whats wrong with clients connecting wirelessly? All of them should have a consolidated data server anyway.

Your questions are not specific enough to be in this section btw. You're looking for backup software? or an NAS appliance? I recommend Zmanda as its open source.

ps. VietNam isnt really much behind in term of IT support. Its just that many business owners over here are not willing to invest into IT.