I've always been curious about something.

How do you keep an handle on the fact that commodity PC storage is
growing at a far faster rate than tape capacity/system is?

For example, if I had a small LAN of about 300 PCs -- let's say,
an academic or corporate departmental LAN environment... each
has at least a 40 GB HD, and probably a fair amount of apps and files
on them. In the stores, I see drives up to 160 GB, with even larger
ones on the way!

So let's say, an average of 25 GB utilization per system... a single
full backup would be about 7.5 TB, which is quite a few tapes ;)
Not everybody is using LTO or higher capacity.

So do those sites rely purely on the incrementals to save you? Or
some site specific policy such as tailoring backups to exclude
(let's say) C:\Program Files, or some such...? Just wondering.

Not every site is lucky enough to be able to convince the beancounters
the merits of having a backup system that keeps up with the needs of
the end users, even if it means one has to explain doomsday predictions
on the business bottom line -- they invariably hear that then say "Oh,
pshaw, you're just exaggerating because you want money...". It sucks
to be the one that's right ;) And the ones who warns well before a
nasty event occurs may also be the first one to be fired out of spite
after something happens and gets the blame for not having prevented it.

-Dan Foster
IP Systems Engineering (IPSE)
IP Systems Engineering (IPSE)
Global Crossing Telecommunications