JDCHS Streamlines Backup and Recovery for Mac Network

Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, UT faced a problem with its hybrid tape/disk backup and recovery system: It didn't always work, and, when it did, it was slow. So the school recently replaced the system with a pure disk-based RAID to handle its more than 455 networked Macs, along with offsite archive drives for business continuity/disaster recovery.

According to the school, the switch to the disk-based system from Revinetix, which has now been in place for a couple months, cut back-up times by 80 percent and also allowed the school to automate its backups.

"The biggest issue was that we didn't have a backup we could count on," said Jim Duane, director of technology for the Skaggs Catholic Center, of which Juan Diego Catholic High School is a part. "Not only did the backup take an inordinate amount of time--it would chug all day and night to get it on tape, it would regularly stall out and the backup would not be completed. Now our backups just work. Since installing the Revinetix disk backup system we have had no problems. Our nightly back up that took all night--when it did work--now takes only two to three hours a night."

"We've anticipated the growing demand for backup solutions that address the unique needs of Mac computer systems," said Revinetix President and CEO Thomas Hogan, in a statement released this week. "The Revinetix product is designed to support Mac systems, and works very well in this particular application. We're actively developing new technologies that serve evolving Apple Mac data protection requirements."

The school has also increased its capacity to 1.5 TB, allowing it to schedule backups once per month, rather than once per week. In addition to the in-house storage, the school is also using 3 TB of offsite storage. The school archives about 650 GB of data each month.

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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [email protected].

Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [email protected].

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


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