Sorry Derek, I disagree.

100G over (for example) 2 years is 4GB/month. Easily manageable even at
ADSL uplink speeds. Sure, it's going to take time to get your current
collection up there, but once there, rsync will provide all you need for
a minimal overhead, given that Xtra are touting 100GB/mo plans at the
moment.

S3 costs pence. 100GB over a LAN is trivial - just leave it running
overnight. 

My problems with external drives...

1. the small ones keep going through the washing machine.
2. the disk-based ones have a hard life. Although hdds can handle 10's
( 100's? ) of g when not in use, they are often unstable ( tall and
thin ) and can fall off desks when in use, and tend to be left in cars
on hot days / rucsacs on the backs of cyclists in the rain, etc.
3. You have to remember to plug / unplug / pick them up / offload the
responsibility when you're off sick / etc...

I see them as a high risk alternative not to be trusted that much. For
me, a far lower risk alternative is to have a networked solution running
from cron. As I'm sure I said before, I have a backup server hidden away
onsite, and a remote server in Canada, which is what I use for a
multilevel backup solution.

I've just checked on prices: a 1TB USB external drive is about $175
( you're future proofing, right? ). Overuse charges for an extra 100GB
isn't going to be anything like that much.

My $0.02,

Steve

On Sun, 2011-11-27 at 15:11 +1300, Derek Smithies wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The usual media one has to backup is photos - which can easily be 100G
> (after some years of collection).
> So a backup solution has to be designed for 100 G.
> 
> Dvds are too small, and slow to search.
> 
> network based backups are too slow - DSL uplink is too slow - and the
> volume of data to 
> backup is too high, in comparison to the monthly cap.
> 
> Which leaves:
>   External usb drive
> 
> 
> Run time machine (apple software) and write contents of 
> hard drive to usb drive. machine blows up. install replacement
> machine.
> run  "time machine" and everything - I mean everything- is restored as
> before on the old hard drive.
> 
> simple effective etc, and works for all users. 
> 
> Not sure on the linux alternatives that are available - I would be
> interested in hearing of users experience.
> There is deja dup, which according to
> http://maketecheasier.com/deja-dup-makes-backup-a-simple-task-linux/2011/03/17
> 
> "Deja Dup Backup is yet another backup tool, except that it turns the
> whole complicated backup process into kid stuff."
> 
> 
> 
> (((This brings me to pet peeve #2.  Users are told to do backups, but
> the sentence should be:
>    1)do backup
>    2)verify that you can take the backup media and restore to a new
> machine
> 
> There are a legion of stories out there of people/firms who have
> regularly and reliably backed up to some media every week.
> on disaster hitting, the backup media was found to be "defective".
> There are two times that you can test your backup.
> a) after disaster happens, b)before the disaster happens.
> )))
> 
> 
> Derek.
> On 26/11/11 17:22, Eliot Blennerhassett wrote: 
> > Now that others have mentioned 'upselling'
> > 
> > I haven't heard one salesperson mention the sad fact: "you're going to
> > put a few years worth of photos etc on this drive, and then it *is*
> > going to fail, so you need some form of backup"
> > 
> > External hard drive?  DVD writer? Amazon S3 subscription?
> > ...
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Linux-users mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
> 
> 
> -- 
> =============
> Derek Smithies, 
> Christchurch,
> New Zealand
> _______________________________________________
> Linux-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users

-- 
Steve Holdoway BSc(Hons) MNZCS <[email protected]>
http://www.greengecko.co.nz
MSN: [email protected]
Skype: sholdowa

Attachment: smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature

_______________________________________________
Linux-users mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users

Reply via email to