This is an explanation of the industry-standard Grandfather-Father-Son backup tape rotation schedule. This backup schedule is appropriate for most small businesses. It is a compromise of protection, convenience and performance.
Number of Tapes Required
The total number of tapes you will require is based on your desired "restore window". A typical business with a five-day work week will use a 20-tape rotation that will give them a one-year restore window. Many, if not most businesses will also keep yearly tapes which can come in handy for tax reporting purposes.
For a five-day work week you will need a total of 20 tapes but if you work (back up) 6 days a week you will need 22. This will allow you to restore files as recent as yesterday and as old as one year.
A six-month restore window requires 14 tapes.
Tape Labels
Daily Tapes
Four tapes will be used every Monday through Thursday. These tapes will be used every week and will see the most wear and tear. It is recommended the daily tapes be shifted to the monthly group once in a while so they don't wear out prematurely...like rotating the tires on your car.
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
Weekly Tapes
Four more of your tapes will be used once a month on Fridays. (or Saturdays, depending on whether or not you are backing up a six-day workweek). Whenever it appears you need a Friday Week 5 tape, you can probably just use the EOM tape.
- Friday Week 1
- Friday Week 2
- Friday Week 3
- Friday Week 4
Monthly Tapes
Twelve of your tapes will be used on the last business day of each month.
- January EOM
- February EOM
- March EOM
- etc.
Off-Site Storage
It is a good idea to keep your Weekly and/or Monthly tapes off-site in case of a disaster (fire, etc.).
Reliability
Please note that any backup system absolutely depends on daily attention and periodic maintenance.
Every backup system requires a "backup administrator" to change the tapes every day, to store them in the proper location and to monitor the backup logs for any errors.
Periodically, every backup system needs to be tested in order to be sure data is actually being backed up and can be restored when needed. Tape drives also need to be periodically cleaned. With most tape drives, this generally means occasionally inserting a cleaning tape.
Cleaning Tapes
Cleaning Tapes should be kept on hand at all times! Use the cleaning tape every month before inserting your Monthly EOM tape, or whenever the 'status' light flashes on the front of the tape drive...whichever comes first.
Cleaning tapes don't last forever! Get a new one every year or according to the instructions on the cleaning tape itself.
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