I am trying to create a new disk array that will have two purposes:
- Archiving data long-term
- nightly backups
This is replacing 10 TB configured across several consumer grade USB disks, Backup Exec 2010. I will be switching to SC DPM 2012. Connection for DPM to my understanding needs to be iSCSI or direct SCSI connection--not USB.
Storage needs by my calculation are a minimum of 6.5 TB: storing 7 incremental backups, and 4 full backups for both Exchange and our other databases and file servers. Ideally, we would start with 15-20 TB. For longer archiving, I could make use of our 15-tape LTO3 library: I don't want to rely solely on tape though.
Ideal budget is < $5,000, I would accept many compromises to get it down to < $2,000.
Can you offer any recommendations for how to go about purchasing the storage for this?
I have considered:
- Repurposing already owned Dell MD1000 15 disk array with 2 TB SATA disks. We would need to buy interposers and disks, and the drive trays.
- Buy a preconfigured, refurbished MD1000 like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerVault-MD1000-15-x-2TB-7-2K-SATA-30TB-w-Interposers-/221154492154. Not sure if this is too sketchy though.
It seems like there are a lot of ways for me to go with this, but I don't know where to start to narrow down my research. I don't want to build a BackBlaze pod, that seems too much work.
If you were trying to buy some cheapish DAS, what products would you consider?