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PresStore vs. Chronosync: to sync or backup?
We’re backing up our SAN using disk-based backups, with two rotating sets of eight 4TB drives in RAID5 mode. This has worked for us well over the past 3 years, I just upgraded to larger drives and moved from a slow NAS to a fast DAS.
The weak link has always been the software (Retrospect). Its instability, useless email reporting, and lack of support for rotating sets made it a very annoying compromise. My candidate for replacement has been Archiware P5 (PresStore), but now I’m wondering… what am I really gaining this way? I’ve used Chronosync for smaller tasks and really like it… but can I trust it to handle all of our data?
For backing up w/ PresStore:
- A “real”, hefty program that you can trust your company’s storage to
- Spending $1,500 on it makes you feel like it’s a serious solution…
- Is PresStore’s encryption more reliable than FileVault2?
For synchronizing w/Chronosync:
- Designed to be used with disks, while PresStore has a complete tape library-based paradigm that I still find confusing for disk sets.
- Leverages the advantage of disks that all data is instantly accessible; in case of a catastrophic failure we can even mount the backup as “online” storage without needing new storage to restore it to.
- Data is natively stored, you’re not dependent on the software for restores.
- I’ve never had issues with Chronosync, including running test backups of our entire SAN. It takes about 20 minutes to scan 14TB and a million files, and then copies/verifies at the speed of the storage.
- This program may have the best software support I’ve ever experienced. The developers even helped me with custom patches for our (now-defunct) Avid Unity 4.
- $40 compared to $1,500… (almost TOO cheap!)
What are your thoughts?
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1 Reply
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I use both
Online > Nearline ( Disk to Disk -server-1 Raid1 to Raid2) Chronosync
Online > Backup (Disk to Disk server-1 Raid1 to server-2 Raid1 ) Chronosync
Backup> Backup (Disk to LTO server-2 Raid1 to LTO5) PresStore
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