Users Guide
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Maintaining the System: Dell
®
PowerEdge
®
1300 Systems User's Guide
Overview | Data Preservation | Cleaning System Components | Environmental Factors | Power Protection Devices
Overview
Proper use of preventive maintenance procedures can keep the system in top operating condition and minimize the need
for costly, time-consuming service procedures. This file contains maintenance procedures that you should perform
regularly.
Data Preservation
Everyone inadvertently deletes files at one time or another. Also, hard-disk drives can fail after extended use, so it is not
a question of whether you will eventually lose data, but when. To avoid such loss of data, you should regularly make
backup copies of all hard-disk drive files. Frequent, regular backups are a must for anyone using a hard-disk drive.
Scheduling Backups
The frequency with which backups should be made depends on the amount of storage space on a hard-disk drive and the
volatility of the data contained on the drive. Heavily used systems require more frequent backups than systems in which
files are seldom changed.
Dell recommends that you back up the hard-disk drive at least once a week, with a daily backup of those files known to
have been changed. Following these guidelines ensures the loss of no more than a day's work in the event of a hard-disk
drive failure or if you inadvertently delete one or more important files.
As further insurance against data losses, you should keep duplicate copies of the weekly and monthly backups at an off-
site location. Doing this ensures that you lose no more than a week's work, even if one of the on-site backups becomes
corrupted.
Backup Devices
Tape drives are fast, convenient, and reliable devices that can back up data at rates of up to 1.5 megabytes per second
(MB/sec) (sustained, without data compression) and can often run unattended. Dell offers tape drives with storage
capacities in the range of 20 to 70 gigabytes (GB) per tape cartridge and recommends these drives and their associated
backup software for use as system backup devices.
As a last resort, you can back up a hard-disk drive's contents on diskettes, a method that is both time-consuming and
prone to human error. Also, backing up a full 4-GB hard-disk drive requires approximately 277 diskettes (when using
1.44-MB diskettes), 334 diskettes (when using 1.2-MB diskettes), or 139 diskettes (when using 2.88-MB diskettes).
Therefore, if it is absolutely necessary to use diskettes as backup devices, any unwanted hard-disk drive files should be
deleted before a backup procedure is started.
Recovering Data
Some hard-disk drive failures are recoverable. In these cases you may be able to recover all lost data if the proper utility
software is available. Even losses such as accidentally deleted files or accidental reformatting of a hard-disk drive can