****This is an edited version of a previous post****


Just as background only: 

When we had a single office, we had 2 Snap servers (identical models). One was 
the primary and the other a backup. Each user mapped 3 shares from the primary 
as X, Y and Z drive. We used the Snap EDR software to create a "replicate" and 
a "backup".  The replicate was a daily snapshot which could be mapped as X, Y 
and Z if the primary failed. The backup was  a multilevel with 10 days of 
incremental backups. The EDR software could restore from the backup to the 
primary but not to another folder on the backup. Which is why we need both a 
replicate and a backup. Also because of the way EDR tracked the incremental 
backup, we could not just re-map our X,Y and Z drives to the backup. (We tried 
and could not use the backup that way though I could be wrong about why).

Our original plan was to use the two new snap servers as primary and backup but 
have the backup physically located in one office and the primary in the other. 
This where the interoffice communication problems have prevented us from doing 
what we had planned. We are still trying to solve the interoffice communication 
problem but we have not been successful in finding an appropriate strategy yet. 
The reasons why are not relevant to my question about Amanda.

In our current setup there the backup Snap server is now the primary Snap 
server for the new office. The old snap server is not compatible with vista so 
it is not a reliable alternative to the primary plus our EDR license is still 
on the primary server in the main office. We could by another license but we 
are not all that thrilled with the EDR software so we want to see about 
alternatives.


Alright so back to the original question:

By mirror, I mean synchronized or replicated folders on the two NAS devices. 

To know if we need the mirror or replicate separately from the multilevel 
backup depends on how the files are stored in the backup. If all the most 
recent files are in folder and can be accessed (i.e. not compressed or altered 
by the backup software) then I can see us being able to remap to the backup 
folder directly (and thus not needing a mirror/replicate). Though I still have 
a gut feeling that using our backup as working files would not be a good idea.

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