Answer Center Blog

No Such Thing as too Many Backups for an Answering Service, Part 2

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A reader responded to Bob's original post with:

"I too have purchased Identical Computers thinking I could use the mirrored image on the other computer to replace/resurect the failed computer drive. It just does not work that way. Every computer, even identical computers, store information differently."

Bob's response:
I don't think it would be possible for me to disagree with your statement more. When I say identical computers. I mean identical. Same mother board, video card, memory, same size harddrives. Everything the same. All expansion cards are placed in the same slots. This insures that the BIOS settings on both machines match. However, if necessary it's not rocket science to make a minor change to your computers BIOS settings.

Regarding the light bulb issue. I was referring to the fact that a harddrive like a lightbulb could be working fine one minute and the next it could blow. No warning, just gone. Jut as the lightbulb, one day your hard drive will fail. It is a mechanical thing,  if you run it long enough it will fail. You might be lucky and get some early warnings but maybe you won't.

I have two removable hard drives in each computer. Both drives have their jumpers set for cable select. So whichever drive is attached into the Primary Slot becomes the Primary and Vice Versa for the Secondary.

I use Norton Ghost to clone an identical copy of the working primary drive to the secondary drive. At this time I can place either drive in the primary slot and the machine works fine and has up to date data. I can also take either drive and place it in the identical backup computer and it also boots and works fine. I know this is true because I have done this many, many times. It does and will work.

Perhaps you have never used Norton Ghost. It makes identical clones of hard drives. That includes boot sectors and information.

My normal mode of operation is to have the clone secondary drive in the working computer but not inserted all the way or turned on. It's just there for backup. Once a week I will reclone it with Norton Ghost. I also have 2 more drives in the backup computer that are also identical clones of the primary drive on machine 1.

Nice thing about the second computer if I want to try a new program or run tests I can do it on the backup without damage to the main computer.

This scheme protects me from an Operating System failure but I could end up with a computer that has lost a week's worth of data. This problem is solved by a daily backup of all database files that change everyday. I send a copy of these files to the harddrive on another computer on the network and also backup a copy to a tape drive that can store 20 to 25 daily backups. With this scheme I will only lose 1 days data at the most on a worst case failure.

If the operating system on the main machine fails during the day I do have the option to insert the backup drive in the primary slot and put the damaged drive in the secondary slot. Once the computer boots I may be able to transfer the database files from the damaged drive to the backup drive. There are risks in doing this and you must be very careful if you try to move the data files between hard drives. But if you are successful you will be back up and running in less than an hour and will have lost little or no data.

As I said this works I do it all the time. When my office manger calls and says  there is trouble with the server I don't have to panic. I know I can get it backup in an hour or less.

Make sure you turn off these programs on all computers on your network prior to backup. If your backup program gives you a report at the end of the backup better read it to see what files were skipped. Windows XP has fixed this problem in some cases you can backup busy files with XP pro.

Only way to be sure is to check and see if your backup is really working. Pretend the main drive in your computer just failed. How long will it take you to get a new hard drive in the machine up and working with current data. For some of you it could be days.  In the telephone answering service industry we cannot risk being down for any length of time.  This scheme has served us well for years.

Bob Krause is owner and IT expert for Answer Center Nationwide Telephone Answering Service in Virginia Beach, VA