On 1/12/11 10:25 AM, tonycd wrote:
Thanks for replying, Yersinia. I appreciate that you bothered.
When I referred to the "very little was amiss," I meant the computer's
own HD showed discrepancies that were truly insignificant in both
number and type. Stuff like "two files (the same two that have done so
for the entire life of the computer) should have been named X and were
named Y." I don't think they were red flags at all.
Personally, I think that anything that doesn't wash totally clean is
something to always keep an eye on.
On the other hand, I'm hitting my palm to my forehead Homer Simpson-
style at your realization (which somehow escaped my densehood
entirely) that the HD problem might be not the computer's HD, but that
of the backup. I have no idea how this never occurred to me. Maybe
it's just the psychology of thinking "well, it's my BACKUP," or maybe
it's that the backup is still putting its icons on the desktop in a
timely manner, showing up in Disk Utility, and starting to back up
before the cloning operation then quits.
LOL, well, right now I'm coming out of almost a year's worth of
intermittent issues with my backup drive, so I may be prejudiced too.
But yes, external backup HDs are just as able to fail as regular-use
internal HDs.
...which is also why I TRY to keep a triple-redundant backup scheme, for
my most important data at least. I will also mention I have to do
everything on the as-cheap-as-I-can-get-away-with budget plan. My normal
backup scheme (i.e., when I am NOT having issues with the external
HD...which is all the time between failures! LOL)... My regular-use HDs:
2 internal drives on my G4 867 Quicksilver (60 GB and 30 GB
respectively, 1 internal drive on my G4 1.5 GHz Mini (40 GB), and my
iBook G3/800's HD (30 GB). For the past year I've been going with a
500GB external HD with three partitions as the backup drive: I have a
500 GB HD in a USB enclosure, with 3 partitions on it (one for the QS,
one for the Mini, one for the iBook). So my backup scheme is as follows:
1. Primary Backup for all systems -- the external HD. All three of my
Macs are FULLY backed up to the external HD, and I maintain with
incremental backups daily (for each Mac used: if I used and backed up
the iBook yesterday, but don't use the iBook today, I don't have to
update its backup today).
2. Secondary Backup: The most important stuff on The Mini and
Quicksilver is backed up on EACH OTHER. So if the Mini and the external
HD go down, I can get at the stuff and use it on the QS, If the external
HD and Mini go down, I can still get it and use it on the QS.
3. Tertiary Backup: The iBook, being my "portable fusion" of the QS and
Mini, is naturally the tertiary backup of the QS and Mini. If the Mini,
QS, AND external HD were to ALL fatally malfunction AT THE SAME TIME --
the most important stuff I have is on the iBook. And if the iBook drops
dead, if/when I get a replacement, I'd be able to fully load it with
either the external HD OR the QS and Mini!
The only hole in my backup system at this time is that I don't have a
REMOTE ("off-site") backup. Prior to very recently, I didn't have one
due to (a) not enough money to buy a SECOND 500 GB external HD, and (b)
not having any reasonably accessible place to KEEP a remote backup if I
had one. I also have to admit I was sort of rolling my eyes at the idea
because what good is weeks- or months- old data; if I crash today and
can't restore from yesterday's which is right here (i.e., somewhere in
the house), the loss is already significant at best, at least with
regards to my current doings. Well, OK, with one of my recent changes,
now, it occurs to me I could keep a remote backup at my BF's house and
could set a weekly update schedule. But right now money is tight again.
Maybe in the spring or summer when I don't have to spend virtually all
my non-rent and non-food money on heating oil and other necessities
(like the one PRIMARY backup).
Glad you have stuff to think about, Tony, and I'm glad if I was able to
help you at all. It's been a very long time since I could do anything
useful at all.
Take care!
~Yersinia.
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