Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

• Correctly assigning scratch media to pools

  Backup operations and compliance expert Ashley D'Costa discusses a reader's question: "How do I automatically re-assign scratch media to the correct pool?"  Continue Reading

• Degaussing backup media

  Backup/recovery expert W. Curtis Preston discusses how to degauss backup media.  Continue Reading

• Analyzing drive usage in backup environments

  There really isn't an "easy way" to report on drive usage in a useful way. There is a "simple" way that typically yields only part of the information you are looking for, and there is a much more complex way that will likely produce the expected ...  Continue Reading

• High density file system backup

  Curtis Preston offers advice to a reader looking for the best solution to backup a high density file system.  Continue Reading

• Reusing backup tapes: Best practices

  Backup expert Curtis Preston offers advice on reusing tape.  Continue Reading

• Portable storage

  Any thoughts on portable storage? We are thinking of adding external HDs for offsite backups (still using a tape for some critical data). My thinking was that we would get two external HDs that would be exchanged each day (we currently do this with ...  Continue Reading

• Using dark fiber to connect sites

  SAN expert Greg Schulz discusses single-mode and multimode fiber optic cabling.  Continue Reading

• Remote backup: What are the alternatives to tape?

  Archiving expert Bill Tolson offers advice to a reader looking for alternatives to shipping tape offsite, including a graphical representation of the remote replication backup process.  Continue Reading

• Mirroring HP EVA4000 data

  Business continuity expert Pierre Dorion offers advice to a reader seeking information about mirroring HP EVA4000 data.  Continue Reading

• Email retention policy: A step-by-step approach

  Email retention and archiving expert Bill Tolson offers his advice on how to create an email retention policy.  Continue Reading

• Hardware mirror migration

  Backup expert Ashley D'Costa offers troubleshooting advice for a reader who asked how to migrate a hardware mirror without losing data.  Continue Reading

• Hot SQL Server backup concerns

  Backup expert Ashley D'Costa outlines what you should consider when performing SQL Server backups while the users are accessing the database.  Continue Reading

• E-mail archiving with CAS

  Archiving expert Bill Tolson offers advice on utilizing CAS for e-mail archiving.  Continue Reading

• Hosted vs. in-house e-mail archiving

  Archiving expert Bill Tolson outlines the pros and cons of hosted, in-house and hybrid e-mail archiving.  Continue Reading

• Agent-based backup pros and cons

  Curtis Preston discusses the pros and cons of agent-based backup software such as TSM or Netvault compared to an agentless backup solution like Asigra.  Continue Reading