I am considering purchasing a Coal Raq4r but im slightly confused about the best way to back up the data stored on the server. Ive read the Raq4r data sheet and it mentions that the Raq4r comes with a external SCSII port. I was wondering if it is possible (and practical) to plug an external DAT drive to the SCSII port and use this for server backups. If this is possible i would be interested to hear from anyone thats tried it.

I'm assuming you've read that the 4r has dual drives (one for RAID mirror), but that you want an actual backup beyond that. There have been a few backup threads, maybe a search just in this forum for 'backup' or 'backups' will get you there.

Thanks for the reply, ill try to clariy on my first post a bit im looking for a way to back up the full server just in case there was a major problem and i lost the box or both hard drives. Im planning on placing the box in my local noc. I will only have one server in the building and they do not provide backup servers (allthough they offer many other good services which makes me want to use them) we have fast internet connections in our offices but i want to backup the server daily which would cause major problems if i had to download all the files to one of the loal machines.

Ive done a search in the raq forum for "backup" and browsed the messages but i cant seem to find anything on using a dat drive for backup. If anyone has used a dat drive to back up the raq server or if anyone knows of any reasons why one cant be used for backups please could you drp me a quick message or mail.

If its not possible im guessig my best option would be to buy a seccnd raq servr of a similar spec and use this for backups?

Sorry, I missed that you were specifically looking for info on a DAT backup solution. I don't really have any info on what can and can't be used, though you might find something at the cobalt user's mailing-list?

http://list.cobalt.com/mailman/listinfo/cobalt-users

Second field down from the top is search, worth a shot...

I tried searching for 'DAT backup' but only got a few results, nothing much that would help... Someone else asked the same thing, didn't get an answer, but maybe you can contact them: http://list.cobalt.com/pipermail/cobalt-users/2000-March/007133.html

No problem im not the best at wording questions :) ill try the cobalt mailing list and getting in touch with the person who was tring to achive the same thing.

Thank you for all your help. and if i find a solution ill post it here for anyone else thats interested.