Server Crash/Backup

I recently had a minor emergency where our server crashed. Apparently our directory got corrupted so the server didn't even know where the operating software was. Two things I think I should share before I get deeper into this post:
1. We are a mac company. So my choices for solutions are more limited as not all software/solutions are made for macs.
2. We had a 'back up system' that included me burning disks of our files every few months and taking the disks home so that they were off site.

So this was how I dealt with the situation.

I bought software called Disk Warrior which would allow me to look at the files on the computer even without an operating system.

I then made the server a 'slave' by connecting it to a computer that is functional.

I was able to go into the server through my 'good' computer and dig through the files. There were literally hundreds of folders with names like "na00002385" which meant that I had to look in each one to see if I could find the files.

After a few hours, I managed to find the server files I needed. I copied all of those files onto my good computer, bought a new server (even though someone told me the old one was still good and we could just reinstall an operating system...I just wanted to play it safe), and transferred the files there. Yay! Fully recovered.

My next step was to make sure this wouldn't happen again. The new server has Time Machine on it, which does it's own back up on a different partition (sorry for the geek speak). This works for an in house solution, but it's also highly recommended to have files backed up off site.

I did some research and found an online back up product called Carbonite. For about $50/year (or cheaper if you buy multiple years), they keep an ongoing backup of all of your files and only upload backups as you make changes. So on the front end it takes awhile to upload all of the files, but after that, it only backs up changed files.

So far I've been really pleased with it. If you don't have a back up plan for your computer files, you should really implement one. It should include something on site (this makes it easy to just grab files as you might need them) and off-site. Off-site is in case of fire or damage/theft of your on site solution.

Don't wait until disaster strikes.