We have Windows PCs connected to lab and machine instruments on restricted networks. We need a way to recover the full system after a failure and protect the files those PCs produce each day, while keeping costs and extra hardware under control. What approaches are worth considering?
What’s a practical way to back up instrument PCs without spending a fortune?
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5G+Miter
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I’d separate the two jobs. Keep a known-good system image from installation and after significant software or instrument changes, and back up changing data files on a schedule. The image may not need to run every day, but it should be refreshed through a checklist so upgrades don’t quietly leave it out of date.
For data, a backup tool that uses Windows Volume Shadow Copy can capture files that are open, unlike a basic copy job. Test restoring both a few files and a whole machine before relying on either process.
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A NAS on the instrument network can be a reasonable landing spot, with a separate off-site copy if policy allows. But don’t connect its second interface to an unrestricted network without checking the security implications. That can create a path between networks that were meant to stay separate.
If you use this design, have the network and security owners approve the data flow, restrict access, and make sure the off-site copy can’t be casually changed or deleted from the instrument PCs.
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For a small setup, keeping a cloned SSD for each instrument PC is simple and has a clear recovery path. The drawbacks are the manual effort and the chance that a replacement drive won’t behave exactly the same. A scheduled image backup can reduce the manual work, but it still needs a restore test on the actual or equivalent hardware.
I’d keep the clone as a fallback until the image-based recovery has been tested, rather than switching based on assumptions about compatibility.
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Cloud costs can vary a lot with retention and how much data changes, so estimate those before choosing a service. One possible setup is local backups on the restricted side, then a controlled transfer of backup data to lower-cost archival storage. Confirm the transfer method works with your network rules and that recovery time from archive is acceptable.
Also check whether the instrument vendor supports image-level recovery or particular backup software. A technically sound restore can still be a problem if it puts the instrument software outside its support conditions.
3K~Fritter:
Good point about restore time. Cold storage only helps if we can tolerate waiting for retrieval when something breaks.
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5G+Miter:
That makes sense. I’ll need to make the upgrade notification part of the process, since that’s where our images get stale.