On Nov 8, 2011, at 9:00 AM, Bill Rising wrote: >> >> • The two desktop computers are backed up by wire with Time Machine to a >> software RAID in the Linux server down the basement. The Linux machine >> advertises the RAID volume using Netatalk, so it looks and behaves just like >> an Appleshare server. > > Is a software RAID as reliable as a hardware RAID? (I would guess it is, or > else you wouldn't use it.)
That's a good question. I really don’t know, but I've noticed no problems. Since many (most?) of those dedicated hardware RAIDs are running embedded Linux anyway, I suspect the difference isn't very great. Mine is probably less reliable because the box is doing so much else: MythTV, SETI@home, file server, … > >> >> • We have three Mac laptops. They are wirelessly backed up with Time Machine >> to a 1.5TB Seagate USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme. The Seagate is >> partitioned into three volumes: one for each of the laptops' Time Machine >> needs. > > Do you have the Time Machine drive backed up redundantly? This is the one > thing I really want to do, because of working on laptops all the time. Of > course, maybe this is a silly idea, because the data are already redundant > (one copy on the laptop, one copy on the backup). Most of the crap that's backed up with Time Machine is both redundant and unimportant. A 3-2-1 strategy for it would be a waste of time and storage space. I guess I didn't mention the extra legs of our backups. We have DropBox accounts. A lot of the stuff I'm working on right now lives on my DropBox. That includes our encrypted financial information. The current files are available from anywhere all the time. There are redundant copies magically on all my machines and I don’t have to worry about whether that thing I’m writing right now is up-to-date at home and in my office; I can just sit down and start whacking away at it. If I were more paranoid about this, I'd have a bona fide 3-2-1 strategy, but I don’t really have that much stuff to worry about, if the house burns down. For example, I use IMAP, so all my email is backed up on the various mail servers. My current projects are all on DropBox. Passwords are stored in Yojimbo and LastPass, which are redundant across machines. I don’t take a lot of photos, but the ones I care about are already out there on the 'Net in various accounts I use to buy prints, or on one or the other of the Grandma's computers. I don’t have a big music collection, and it wouldn't kill me to start over again—yet another copy of the White Album! _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list [email protected] http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
