Re: tapes best for backup?
On 01/05/08 15:00, David Brodbeck wrote:
On Jan 5, 2008, at 8:06 AM, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
I started this thread on debian-user after a thread on OpenBSD berated
someone for relying on CD/DVDs for backups and archives because they
fade over time.
If that's the concern, why not copy the archived material to new media
every five years or so? The discs aren't that expensive, and experience
seems to suggest that the data is pretty safe for that time period.
Keeping the current and previous copy would add another layer of safety
-- two copies are unlikely to both get damaged in exactly the same spot.
But since that's tedious and prone to forgetfulness (who remembers
to copy -- possibly dozens of -- DVD's and CR-Rs to new media every
FIVE years?), continuous/rotating backup to modern ultrahigh-density
hard drives seems best for home and SOHO use.
Leave the tapes at Iron Mountain to the companies that can afford it.
Actually, prices of SATA-based SANs have come down far enough that
we keep 7 years of transactional data on-line as well as on tape,
because we get subpoena requests (lawyers wanting to know when some-
one drove thru an E-ZPass lane) often enough that it got really
tedious searching thru high-capacity tapes for a few dozen records.
I actually think this is a good idea for any archival media, including
tape. Tape can fail due to age when the binder breaks down -- I haven't
seen this specifically with data tape, but I've seen 20 year old
videotapes that were shedding iron oxide at a pretty distressing rate.
The favored tape formats also change every few years and working drives
for obsolete formats can be very hard to find. I ran across a stack of
QIC-40 cartridges a while back and realized if I'd wanted what was on
them, I'd have had a hard time. The drives were kind of flimsy and
required a 5.25" floppy controller. Also the sync track was on the edge
of the tape, exactly where it was most prone to damage.
--
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA
"I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian
because I hate vegetables!"
unknown
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