How do you handle off-site backups of terabytes of data?

Question

I have terabytes of files and database dumps that I need to backup off-site.

What's the best way to accomplish this?

I'm currently weighing rsyinc to Amazon EBS or getting an appliance (eg barracuda).

I called a buddy of mine, and he said he uses backula to get all the files on a single disk, then backs that disk up to tape, then sends the tapes off to iron mountain.

Still waiting to hear back from other sysadmins I've contacted. Will post results here.

Answer 1

One common solution to offsite backups that is worth considering is performing the backup onsite and then physically transporting the backup elsewhere, either via secure snail mail or with a service designed for that purpose. If bandwidth is an issue, this may be more practical.

Answer 2

Instead of tapes, I use hard drives that I physically swap out every week. It is less expensive than tape equipment, and easier to plug into another system when necessary.