[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Backup: optical disk, and RAID



On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 09:10:59AM +0200, Johannes Wiedersich wrote:
> Masatran, R. Deepak wrote:
> > I need to backup a partition on my hard drive. Currently, I am trying to get
> > CDRW-Taper to work. Is that the best, or does anyone recommend anything
> > else?
> 
> There is no 'best' for all cases. It depends on your needs. For a single
> computer mainly used by one person at at time I use and recommend backup
> to external usb-drives (depending on the size a usb stick may work as
> well):
> 
 
> > Also, how does software RAID level-1, with a partition on another hard
> > drive, compare with backup onto optical disk? I carry my hard drive around,
> > and will not be carrying the backup hard drive.
> 
> A Raid is *not* a backup. A raid is a mechanism to avoid data loss in
> case one disk fails. It cannot prevent data loss for any other mishap
> that may happen to your computer.

Unless you take the external USB drive and add it to the raid1 array,
let it sync, then pull it out of the array.  This was suggested to me as
a great way to backup when the system (/, /usr, /var,...) is on raid1.
If anything happens to the computer itself, get new hardware, boot up
the external USB drive, then add the new internal drives to the array
and let them sync.  System restored while live off the USB.

A live raid is _not_ a backup, as you say, but raid can be a tool in a
total backup strategy.  Consider enterprise virtual-tape arrays that are
really raid arrays that appear to be tape libraries to other devices.

Doug.



Reply to: