MacPro central file server and backup tape drive

[dahak777]

Good Day,

Couple of questions. Here is what they want to do. Small office, graphics design, 5 people at the moment, currently they backup to cds/dvds which takes too much time and effort.

What they want
Have a central networked location to store there files / projects. Easy backups.

So I was thinking of the following.
MacPro with 2x TB Drives Mirrored to have redundancy on the machine, many not even need to do it. just a suggestion.
Usb External Tape Drive - > backs up data daily

Now the questions that I have for this setup
1) Would just the 10.5 Leopard client work fine or would have to go to Leopard Server?

2) Cant remember if still can do a software raid on the client side without needed the dedicated mac pro raid card.

3) Any recommendations on external usb tape drives that would work with the mac. I can get the software without any problems. Thinking about EMC Retrospect 8.0 for mac

 

[lannister80]

I really like Retrospect. Haven't used it since 2004 or so, but it was awesome back then.

 

[dimme]

You could also set up a cheap PC with XP of Linux and use it as a file server. At my last Job (photo lab) I had a PC running XP with 4 shared drives serving 9 macs. Worked well and very cost effective. Just make sure your network is gibabit Ethernet.