Post by: Ben on April 02, 2007, 04:58:11 PM
I sometimes think about going back to full backup, like Retrospect, but then figure if I have a crash, maybe that's a sign I should just nuke and reinstall OS and prgs. A little extra work doing things like replacing bookmarks and email addresses from backup, but they go onto a fresh install.
So what do you all do?
Post by: K Frame on April 02, 2007, 05:06:13 PM
Post by: lee n. field on April 02, 2007, 05:07:18 PM
I don't like tape. It tends to fail way too often, it's expensive and compatibility over time is very limited. CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.
Post by: Gewehr98 on April 02, 2007, 05:17:57 PM
Every computer in the house has a partition called "Archive", and at least once a week I backup the Outlook.pst files, the bookmarks, mp3 files, documents, and any other files that need saving to those partitions. All the "Archive" partitions on the network are identical to each other, with my wife's and my workstation also storing them on a RAID 1 pair installed in each machine. I use FolderMatch v3.4.5 to do all the synchronizing.
Items I really don't want to lose get backed up to an 80Gb USB external HD attached to my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. I've also got two Quantum SnapServer 1100 units attached to the network, and about once a month I'll dump the "Archive" partitions to the SnapServer NAS units.
One of these days I'll finish my PowerPoint diagram of the home network. It looks like Charlotte's Web on amphetamines.
Post by: matis on April 02, 2007, 05:20:50 PM
Easiest way for me. If necessary, I can remove the external drive from its enclosure, plug it into the computer and boot up.
Or, I can, at any time, copy partial contents from the usb clone drive to my C drive.
Anything, like a surge, for instance, that might destroy my C drive, cannot hurt my usb drive because it keep it disconnected from both data and power.
What could be easier?
matis
Post by: Standing Wolf on April 02, 2007, 05:21:44 PM
So far, paranoia has warded off losses, although I've lost a hard drive or two over the years.
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2007, 05:45:35 PM
I don't know what they mean, but I figure I can use them if I have to restore data.
Post by: Ben on April 02, 2007, 06:11:56 PM
Quote
I don't know what they mean, but I figure I can use them if I have to restore data.
So is that the "monkeys at the typewriters" method??
Post by: Ben on April 02, 2007, 06:14:48 PM
Quote
CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.
Yeah, I should qualify my DVD archiving to just my important docs and stuff. Images, music, etc. just go to an external drive and I keep my fingers crossed regarding major disasters. 
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on April 02, 2007, 09:16:08 PM
At work, rsync, large hard drives, and www.rsync.net
Post by: JimMarch on April 02, 2007, 09:30:13 PM
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Boot your system with this CD, attach an external USB drive, and it will back up the PC's main hard disk to a file on the external disk.
Here's the kicker: you can back up various partitions, or you can back up the whole drive - regardless of disk format.
Yes folks, it's a free Linux-based backup system that works GREAT backing up Windows!
Post by: gunsmith on April 03, 2007, 12:54:23 AM
How do I learn about this stuff?
What stuff is so important that I have to back it up?
Post by: mtnbkr on April 03, 2007, 02:40:06 AM
Chris
Post by: crt360 on April 03, 2007, 02:53:49 AM
Post by: lee n. field on April 03, 2007, 03:15:34 AM
Quote
when a computer crashes, I would have to buy a new one I suppose.
What stuff is so important that I have to back it up?
What stuff is so important that I have to back it up?
I have documents and mail going back almost 20 years, that I have migrated continuously from computer to computer and OS to OS (Atari ST to DOS/Deskview to OS/2 to Linux. Always avoided running 'Doze on personal machines.) I'd hate to break the chain.
Post by: TarpleyG on April 03, 2007, 04:01:11 AM
Greg
Post by: wmenorr67 on April 03, 2007, 04:04:25 AM
Post by: roo_ster on April 03, 2007, 06:11:05 AM
Currently, at work and home my favored method is what dasmi mentioned, rsync. Stuff it into scripts & stuff those scripts in to cron. Works for linux/unix and my Windows boxes with cygwin installed on them.
Oh, and that is to another HD. Tapes are barbaric, besides being undependable in actual usage.
We have used Snap Servers in the past. Never again for mission-critical or security-relavant data. Just ain't ready for prime time.
Post by: Brian Williams on April 03, 2007, 08:49:41 AM
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on April 03, 2007, 08:54:52 AM
Rsync for windows!
Post by: mtnbkr on April 03, 2007, 09:02:53 AM
Chris
Post by: Declaration Day on April 03, 2007, 11:40:56 AM
Everything else is either programs that I have the CDs for, bookmarked websites that I can easily re-bookmark, and saved passwords that are all in my head.
Post by: RadioFreeSeaLab on April 03, 2007, 12:13:53 PM
that's a link to futurama vids. I think you pasted the wrong link.
Chris
Whoops! You're right! I've fixed it.Chris
Post by: Gewehr98 on April 03, 2007, 12:15:52 PM
Quote
We have used Snap Servers in the past. Never again for mission-critical or security-relavant data. Just ain't ready for prime time.
I'm VERY curious to find out what went wrong with your Snap Server experiences. I went the Snap Server route here at my home intranet after doing some research and making some phone calls to old friends. The TS agency I just retired from used them by the gross as part of their JWICS, SIPRNET, and NIPRNET intranet backup regime, and I specifically asked the sysadmins about their mean time between failures. They came highly recommended, as did RAID arrays. So I went with both concepts, tapes being so "last week".
Post by: jamz on April 03, 2007, 01:55:46 PM
Post by: RevDisk on April 03, 2007, 02:10:46 PM
Just curious regarding what everyone is using for computer backups. I've run the gamut from tapes to Windows Backup to Retrospect. For the last couple of years, I've been backing up data only. I have all my data in a couple of directories that every couple of weeks I drag over to an external USB HD and put into dated directories. As the drive fills up, I delete the oldest dates. I also archive onto DVD every month or two and put those in the gun safe.
I sometimes think about going back to full backup, like Retrospect, but then figure if I have a crash, maybe that's a sign I should just nuke and reinstall OS and prgs. A little extra work doing things like replacing bookmarks and email addresses from backup, but they go onto a fresh install.
So what do you all do?
I sometimes think about going back to full backup, like Retrospect, but then figure if I have a crash, maybe that's a sign I should just nuke and reinstall OS and prgs. A little extra work doing things like replacing bookmarks and email addresses from backup, but they go onto a fresh install.
So what do you all do?
For my servers, retrospect. I keep two weeks worth of daily backups on disk, push to tape every Sunday. Might move to a full month worth of daily backups once I get my new DAS. For my laptops, I create a ghost image every few weeks. All important data is sync'd to a spot on the servers. The ghosts can restore my laptop back to any snapshot I wish. The programs, not the data, are the important factor on the laptops. Opposite on my servers.
I do a fresh OS install every couple months. At the moment, I'm angling for a new laptop anywho. I'm gonna try to run Longhorn on an M2010.
Post by: thebaldguy on April 03, 2007, 02:44:20 PM
Post by: Unisaw on April 03, 2007, 02:47:28 PM
My office is pretty secure (fire suppression, security system), so I haven't felt the need to store data off-site. However, I could be naive about the need to do so.
Post by: JimMarch on April 03, 2007, 06:25:30 PM
Browser bookmarks are important for some folk.
Then there's "lesser stuff" - games that could be reloaded but you'd lose all your saves, cool videos you've downloaded, stuff you don't WANT to lose but it wouldn't kill ya.
A "whole disk backup" like via the method I pointed to is the safest.
A related point: in Windows, every file has an "extension" (last (usually) three letters at the end after a period) that tells Windows what type of file it is. For example, the code for MS-Word documents is .DOC, Excel spreadsheets is .XLS, and so on. Every type of data file has a code. If you rename a file from something.doc to something.xls and then double-click it, Windows will try and stuff the file into the Excel spreadsheet where it will choke and gag (you'll get an error basically adding up to "Excel doesn't know what the hell to do with this alien weirdcrap you're feeding me"). Windows also matches the data file icon to a program if that program is available, so anything named .DOC usually gets the icon for MS-Word if that's available or if you're using a free clone of word, it will be Abiword or OpenOffice.
Windows XP has this STUPID "feature" where by default, it hides this "extension" from view. Open up "my computer", open a hard disk icon, then in the menus (under "view" I think) there's a series of settings for "view options". Find that, UNcheck the box that says "hide file extensions of known type". EVERYBODY, for the love of God go do that. Yes, right now.
The system will then show you what the file types are for your document files. You can then use the Windows "search for files" function to look for those extensions (search for "*.extentioncode" without quotes) so you can see where your critical stuff is - what folders they're in. Most people have no clue where their stuff actually resides.
Once you KNOW, you can figure out how big the stuff is in total and where to grab it from.
If it's smaller than 700 megs, congrats, it will fit on a CD-R disk. Back it up by burning it to CD. If it's 4.7gig or less, it will fit on a DVD-R. So do that.
If it's like mine, up around 25gigs, bite the bullet and go buy an external USB hard drive, as big as you can afford. Back it up to that, like I do, either by hand-copying stuff (now that you know where YOUR stuff is), using a backup utility such as what the better USB hard disks by Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital or others ship with, or by using the Gparted-Clonezilla disk I mentioned.
With the latter, you download a "disk image" file of about 150megs, file extension is .ISO, and you turn that into a complete CD boot disk. If you have any commercial CD burning software, it will know what to do with an .ISO file and will prompt you for a blank CD. If that doesn't work, free ISO reader/burner programs are available, drop me email at 1.jim.march@gmail.com and I'll go find one for you at tucows.com or similar.
Once you have the burned disk image, you tell your computer to try and boot first off CD (or DVD), second off hard disk if that's not available. You then put the GParted-Clonezilla disk in, do a normal restart and it boots a simple, specialized Linux install that is only useful for backing up data (even a Windows disk) or fixing Linux disks. It's a breeze to use.
Post by: RocketMan on April 03, 2007, 06:58:35 PM
Post by: RJMcElwain on April 04, 2007, 06:09:44 PM
Bob
Post by: mtnbkr on April 05, 2007, 05:12:21 AM
Chris
Post by: Jamisjockey on April 05, 2007, 05:43:54 AM
Once per week or thereabouts I tar up the contents of /home to an file on an external usb hard disk. If I need to I can reinstall Linux from scratch and be back up in 3 hours or so.
I don't like tape. It tends to fail way too often, it's expensive and compatibility over time is very limited. CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.
I don't like tape. It tends to fail way too often, it's expensive and compatibility over time is very limited. CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.
Another USB external HD user. Cost about $100. Soon I'm also going to use a battery backup, although we seem to rarely get power bumps here (so far).
I backup usually once a week, just the important data like financial records, business files, and pictures.
Post by: TF_FH on April 05, 2007, 01:43:35 PM
However, I am considering getting norton ghost and setting it so I store an image file on the second hard drive (maybe a third?) so that I don't have to reinstall anything.
Post by: mike on April 06, 2007, 07:33:54 AM
Post by: Bogie on April 06, 2007, 08:20:56 AM
Ohmigawd... I remember my first hard drive. I was so proud that I'd upgraded from the standard size to that 15 megabyte monster...
Old photos, etc., go on DVDs. Every week or so I copy my main drive to a USB drive.
Does anyone know of a software or USB-based RAID system for XP?
Post by: mtnbkr on April 06, 2007, 09:01:26 AM
NT would do up to RAID5, but you had to install the OS on a single partition, so the best you could do for the system was RAID1 IIRC. I used NT's software RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 at various time and even found them useful. RAID1 under NT saved my bacon on a low-cost Citrix server when the IDE drive failed.
For backup purposes, it might make sense to put your system on a large HDD, say 100gig (just an example). Build the system on a 20gig partition, store your data on the remaining 80gig partition, then use NT's (XP) RAID1 to mirror that to separate 80gig drive.
Chris
Post by: mtnbkr on April 06, 2007, 09:04:59 AM
Chris
Post by: Paddy on April 10, 2007, 10:19:40 AM
Post by: Mannlicher on April 10, 2007, 12:31:30 PM
Post by: Gewehr98 on April 10, 2007, 05:27:36 PM
Post by: RevDisk on April 11, 2007, 01:13:21 PM
I use the "scatter" technique. I send multiple backups to different machines, playing the law of averages that not all machines will crash at the same time.
Add a handful of NAS's, and I think that's a network diagram of my office.
Post by: Gewehr98 on April 11, 2007, 07:30:13 PM
