Thanks David - Great ideas. How do you like the small business server.
Since I just found out the client want to buy another server just for data would you recommend the Small business 2003 server. About 20 user - 5 VFP file server apps which are used pretty heavy.

Again Thanks
Gaylen



>Gaylen,
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>>What recommendation would anyone have for a backup system to a window 2000 server.
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>I am currently using USB 2.0 external drives with several client installations and we like them a lot. (You do want a USB 2.0 card in the machine for speed). In fact, you can make your own external by getting a cheap USB 2.0 enclosure and putting a fast IDE drive in it.
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>You can use the Windows Server 2000 ntbackup program to write to the external, then swap it out every morning with a different external, with one copy going offsite each day. Be sure to choose backing up System Settings also, so all your users and settings are stored.
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>For recovery, you would then install Windows Server 2000 up to a point, then add the external and run the ntbackup restore option. Or, you can use the ntbackup software, even on another machine, to bring back a file or group of files into another directory structure.
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>There are other software solutions, but you can get a good bit of protection this way.
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>I just installed a Windows 2003 Small Business Server (a GREAT deal for small businesses), and it is vastly improved over the 2000 version related to backup. It still uses ntbackup, but it is enhanced to use the Shadow Copy feature of SharePoint Services to "snapshot" every file before backing up that file, so it can gracefully handle open and locked files. The setup of the backup wizard on SBS 2003 was a joy to behold, and it also set up a notification log in the SBS Management screen and can also notify you by email if you have a failed backup. There is also a very detailed step-by-step recovery white paper for SBS 2003. Highly recommended!