The following guidelines may help you take some decisions about backup and restore procedures:
Performance
* Schedule Backup Operations When Database Activity IsLow:
Database operation may have an important impact on the server;
avoid backup operation when the activity of the server is high,
especially full database backups.
* Back up first to disk, whenever possible.
Consider using a File Server to store the backups.
Backing up to disk will greatly increase the performance of the backup process
and free the resources of SQL Server.
Using file backups also simplifies the restoration process.
When backing up to a remote share,
use UNC paths and do not use mapped drives.
* When using a File server to store backups,
consider using a private LAN trunk to avoid general network congestion.
A private trunk requires that both the File and the Database Servers
have an additional network card connected to a private LAN.
This practice also increases the security of the backup process.
* Back up to tape or other devices for long run storage.
Tapes and other media types offer an economical option
to store the information for the long run.
* Do not use the same physical disk
that hold the database files or Log files for backup purposes.
Using the same physical disk not only affects the performance,
but also may reduce the recoverability of the plan.
Source:
Ebook: Best Practices For Backup And Restore In SQL Server 2005
By Javier Loria, Courtesy of DELL
Page 8