Re: backup using hard disk - any ideas
Ralph Winslow said
> When JonesMB wrote, I replied:
>
> I assume that your 2Gb. is on a different spindle, 'cause if it isn't,
> it won't do you a hell of a lot of good in the event of a disk failure.
>
> I've enclosed the perl that I use to backup some essentials that I'd
> need to re-build from a Debian CD. I save only essentials, because my
> backup disk holds only 340 Mb. while my system disk is 2 Gb. This perl
> was the result of fooling with various list of directories until I had a
> list that saves what I need in ~300 Mb.
Why not isolate the data you want to backup in you file system so you
can setup raid on the second spindle. As an example:
/usr under Debian is fairly static, so don't include it in any raid
solution. /home on the other hand has lots of stuff you do want to
preserve, So create a partition on a second or third drive that's the
same size as /home and setup raid to have the two mirror each-other.
Files in /etc or parts of /var that change, but not often can be
backed-up many ways. LS-120 or ZIP drives would work good for this.
So would copying those files to /home/root (iff /home was being mirrored)
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I recently had a hard drive die on me causing me to lose lots of data. I
> > have rebuilt my system (a K6/233 with Debian on 1GB and Win95 on 1GB) and I'm
> > looking at various ways of backing up my data so I don't lose it all again.
> > I currently have about 2 GB of drive space that I am not using and want to
> > devote to backing up my system. At worst I can just do a cpio or tar but I
> > am sure there is a more elegant way to do it. There might even be a package
> > which does this. Any ideas are appreciated.
> >
The needs to backup information is dependent on the value of the data.
Some things are just an annoyance to re-build (like application customization)
other things are not replaceable. The trick is in identifying which bucket
should contain which files. For indispensable data, I recommend using
multiple technologies. Don't rely on one tape drive and one backup
software. Instead, backup some times to a removable disk, other times
to tape. Sometimes to magnetic media other-times to optical. Use commercial
software that tolerates errors well. Maybe actually use two different
backup programs.
Don't forget to archive data off-site routinely. Don't have just three
tapes that you rotate, round-robin. Develope a backup strategy (complete
with contingencies) that has daily, weekly and monthly backups. Make sure
that your data isn't ever just one place! One of the justifications for
Information Technology has been data duplication (not feasible in a
paper-based system.) We should use that capability more, as a whole.
> > TIA
> > jmb
> >
> > --
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>
> --
> -----------------------------------------
> Ralph Winslow rjw@nac.net
> <Insert sardonic phrase here>
Chuck
--
Chuck Stickelman, Owner E-Mail: <stick@richnet.net>
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