> I think my linux box might be 0wned, because it makes "processing > noises" in the middle of the night (might this be xscreensaver?). >
I can't recall what Gentoo has, but most distributions have a series of nightly tasks like rebuilding the locate database, log rotation and so on (see the /etc/cron.* directories) > Sometimes I fear that Windows will corrupt itself, as it has been known > to do in the past. > I've used and administered Windows workstations for years and short of hardware problems, any corruption I've seen is a direct result of user activity/stupidity. But given that, after extended use, it does tend to get messy and slow. > Sometimes I fear that emerge --update world, or a kernel update, will > make me Gentoo system unbootable. > This happened to me after I got back from a 2 month trip. That was the last straw in the 'Gentoo time sink experiment'. > Sometimes I fear that either harddrive will die for no reason. > They will, but that's a healthy fear if it keeps you doing backups :) > What should I do? Have any of you had this happen to you? I have gone > so far as thinking I should set up my old computer with an ultra-stable > gentoo configuration, firewall it completely (hardware router+iptables), > make a new account for school on my fast box, and do weekly backups onto > CD, which could then be put onto the stable box. > Just think of how much you value your data. If it's a month long project with a hundred hours in it, you'll probably want to be spitting out CD's every second day. Personally, most of my files are no big deal to lose, so I do backups whenever I feel the need. It's all about what lets you feel secure so you can sleep at night. Although I do think an entire second computer is a bit overkill. You could have a equally good backup by ghosting your computer once a week to a spare harddrive, or by buying a removable drive bay. Even a usb keychain can store a large amount of data and be set to read only mode and left plugged in. And honestly if your worried about the time to rebuild your computer after a crash, you might want to look at a distro that's a little less time intensive. > Is this beyond the realm of being security-consious? > If your investing more time on your paranoia then actually using the equipment, then perhaps :) -- Matthew Kent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://magoazul.com _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
