360 Systems DigiCart/E - Manual (Page 44)

42
• Maintenance
Backups
Performing regular backups should be considered one of a responsible system administrator's top priorities.
Although operating systems and hardware are extremely reliable, failures can, and probably will occur. They
may be caused by hardware failure, power outages, or other unforeseen problems.
Human error may be the most frequent problem resulting in undesired changes to, or even deletions of, crucial
files. Good backup practices will aid in system restoration in the event of such loss.
Copies of valuable recordings should be kept on separate media, such as tape, removable drive or CD-R. An
additional backup should be stored in a separate location.
The Internal hard drive in each DigiCart can provide another level of security from hard drive or network
system failure. This is generally accomplished by using the Copy Directory utility to duplicate the contents of
entire directories to another drive partition. We recommend that critical playback be made from recordings
copied to the internal hard drive, rather than depend upon the extra electronics associated with the network.
Server Backup Procedures
360 Systems recommends using commercially available data backup software programs, such as
NovaBACKUP for Windows NT/2000 Server by Novastor Corporation. Note that backup software running on
a server cannot make backups of files stored on client devices, such as DigiCart/E. Either make removable
copies of important files directly from the DigiCart/E recorder; or copy individual files, or entire directories to
a server, where they can then be backed up by the server’s backup utility.
When deciding on a commercial backup utility, look for the following minimum features:
•
Unattended or automated backups - Is the ability to automate backups so that they can be performed at
regular intervals without human intervention important to you? If so, you will need to choose both a tool
and a backup medium, which will support such a backup scheme.
•
Media types - Backups can be stored on a variety of media, such as tape, an extra hard drive, ZIP drives,
or CD-RW. Consider cost vs. reliability, storage capacity, and transfer speed for your requirements.
•
Data Compression – Loss-less data compression can save space on the backup media.
•
Registry Data – Backup critical Windows 2000 system data.
•
Disaster Recovery – The backup utility can make recovery disks for use in the event of a system crash.
•
Virus Scanning
∗
– Computer viruses are a serious threat to your valuable data. Treat viruses seriously by
using an advanced virus scanning engine that ensures that all of your backups are virus-free. If a
computer virus is on your system during a backup, the software will detect it and keep your backup free
from infection.
∗
DigiCart/E itself is not easily vulnerable to viruses as its operating system and storage media are not accessible via the network.