In 2005, Tampa, Fla.-based law firm Bush Ross needed a new backup system. The firm had been using a Dell PowerVault 128T, which contained two internal tape drives and a 20-tape library, to back up data and servers. An additional, external tape drive was dedicated to backing up the firm’s e-mail server.
Bush Ross decided against renewing the maintenance for its Dell PowerVault because it didn’t work that well. “We were using all three tape [drives] because they were backing up different systems, and it still took in excess of 12 hours to do a complete backup. By 2005, we started to lose one of the tape drives, which put us up to 18 hours to back up our data system,” says Mike Adams, director of information technology at Bush Ross. “Given a certain level of constraints, such as hurricane preparedness and general network access, trying to do the [daily] backup was exceeding our window of allowable time.”
