Over 20GB: The Complete Backup

If you can't afford downtime, and everything on your PC--from data to programs to custom settings--is vital, you need a big, fast, dedicated backup drive to safeguard your PC's content and get you up and running as quickly as possible. Speed is a major consideration here, as are capacity and removability. We looked at external hard drives, a tape drive, and a NAS device in this group--and our nod goes to external hard drives, which deliver the best performance at a very attractive price. But hard disks make storing critical data off-site difficult. In circumstances where time isn't an issue, you can opt instead for a tape drive that uses compact, high-capacity media large enough to hold the entire contents of your hard drive. A tape drive's two advantages--easy automation and its use of removable media (allowing for the storage of redundant backups off-site)--generally make up for the shortcomings inherent in its pedestrian performance.

Exabyte's VXA-1 Tape Drive, an external SCSI model, stores 33GB of data per tape cartridge (and up to 66GB of compressed data, depending on the type of files involved); a single tape costs about $67. The VXA-1 stores data in packets rather than as a continuous stream; according to Exabyte, this makes for greater reliability of the data on the tape.

Setting up the drive can be difficult, however. The documentation is slim, and the VXA-1 comes without a SCSI cable or adapter. Unlike the other drives in this review, the Exabyte includes only software drivers, and it can't be used without a third-party backup package like the one we tested with. If you don't already have backup software, you'll need to buy it separately in order to use this drive. (A FireWire version includes Dantz Retrospect Desktop Backup, but it costs $848, $50 more than the SCSI drive.)

Like most tape drives, the Exabyte drive is relatively slow: In our tests, it required 3.5 hours to complete a 10GB backup. But tape offers reliability and simplicity (see "The Foibles and Fortitude of Media," below). For a full backup, just start the application, pop in a tape, and that's it--no further intervention is necessary.

While external hard drives as a whole are common and are generally fast for backing up data, backups don't get any faster or more automatic than with CMS Peripherals' ABSplus for Desktops. The ABSplus is an 80GB external, 7200-rpm hard-disk drive that connects via USB 2.0 (a FireWire version costs the same; and a pricier, more portable version is also available). What sets the ABSplus apart from other hard drives is its preconfigured backup software: At first use, the software executes a full system backup; it then performs incremental backups every time you turn the drive on. (You can use an applet installed in Windows' System Tray to run an incremental backup or restore manually.)

The ABSplus was the fastest drive in this roundup, by far. It needed just 18 minutes to complete a full 10GB backup--less than half the time of its nearest competitor, the KanguruDisk. The ABSplus also came in first in the folder copy test, finishing ahead of the Iomega HDD 20GB Portable Hard Drive by 17 seconds. Note, however, that the ABS's times don't include data verification; we tested each unit with its default settings, and on the ABS, you must configure data verification manually.

Speed aside, the ABSplus makes it easy to recover from data disaster: Thanks to the included rescue floppy or CD to boot off the ABSplus, you can access Windows and all your applications and data in the event your PC's hard drive fails. Once you install a new primary hard drive, a one-step restore gets your system back to normal in a flash.

Unfortunately, CMS's manuals make installation harder than it should be, by providing scant illustrations and few port and drive part descriptions. In addition, this relatively heavy, chunky device isn't particularly well suited for transporting.

The other hard drive in this category--Interactive Media's 80MB KanguruDisk --combines some of the benefits and drawbacks of both tape and external hard drives. In our speed tests, the KanguruDisk ranked second in our full backup and incremental backup tests. The internal KanguruDisk consists of a 5400-rpm 80GB hard drive inside an ungainly, beige cartridge the size of a VCR tape, plus a KanguruDock drive bay installation kit for mounting (and locking) the IDE drive in an open 5.25-inch drive bay.

The KanguruDisk's design is interesting, because it couples the portability of removable media with the ability to keep one less item on your computer desk. In addition, it allows you to use the cartridge as an external drive, if you purchase the appropriate interface connectors (including USB 2.0, FireWire, parallel-port, and PC Card). This range of connectivity makes the KanguruDisk very flexible. However, a power adapter (required in order to use the drive externally) costs $60, and additional interface cables and adapters run from $40 to $60 apiece.

Nonetheless, at $290 (which includes the drive, the KanguruDock, and the NovaStor Disk-to-Disk Backup software), this device is a bargain: The drive's cost works out to $3.62 cents per gigabyte, compared with $4.99 per GB for the CMS ABSplus and a hefty $11.45 per GB for Iomega's HDD Portable Hard Drive.

Small businesses looking to back up multiple PCs should consider Quantum's compact, 3.5-pound Snap Server 1100. The Snap Server is an 80GB headless server that you connect to your network via a 100Base-T/10Base-T ethernet port. (You configure headless servers over your network using a Web browser, rather than controlling them via a keyboard and monitor.) Another approach is to base the Snap Server off-site and back up multiple systems over a wide area network (the Snap Server supports SSL version 3 encryption and can work with your network's existing virtual private network or firewall). The Snap Server supports various network protocols and client operating systems, including Microsoft Windows 9x, Macintosh System 7.5 and later, Unix, and Linux.

In our 10GB backup test, the Snap Server was the second slowest drive in this category, and it ranks fifth overall at this task. It took 2 hours, 51 minutes to complete a full backup--only 40 minutes faster than the tape drive.

As with other jumbo-capacity backup drives, the Snap Server doesn't require much attention while it runs. The backups are handled by the unit's bundled PowerQuest DataKeeper software, which executes an initial full backup of Windows clients, and then performs constant incremental backups thereafter (it even saves file versions). The Snap Server administrator can issue read and write permissions for data on the server, so (for example) each user on the network can view his or her backup files and not the CEO's. If sharing backup storage among multiple PCs is your goal, the Snap Server is a worthy contender.

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