Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-06 Thread Russell Reiter via talk 
On Feb 3, 2017 2:05 PM, "Stewart C. Russell via talk" 
wrote:

On 2017-02-03 12:56 PM, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
>
> Apparently some of them they put the USB interface right on the drive
> controller board, so it doesn't even have a SATA connector.

Like the “WD PiDrive Foundation Edition” for the Raspberry Pi:


> Not sure I want to use clay tablets.

Oh I dunno: a CNC controlled punch could impress QR-Code-like
Reed–Solomon encoded data on wet feldspar clay tiles. Fire that with a
nice glaze and you'll get a few kilobytes per tile that will last for
pretty much everyone's definition of "forever". Proper storage should
consider plate tectonics as a threat model.

Reformatting the media, however, is left as an exercise for the reader.

With the proper isotope markers in the mix = Bitcoins. Grind em up and
start a new fork after the digital value is siphoned off.


Russell


 Stewart
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-06 Thread Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk 

I just ordered 2x:

  WD 1TB Elements Portable Hard Drive USB 3.0 Model WDBUZG0010BBK-EESN 
Black


@ $69.99 each (save $30 off regular price)

From www.newegg.ca

Sale ends tomorrow.

Steve


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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-03 Thread Lennart Sorensen via talk 
On Fri, Feb 03, 2017 at 12:42:47PM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> 
> | From: Jason Shaw via talk 
> 
> | I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as
> | they are USB powered,  USB 3, and small form factor.  I get decent
> | performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after
> | the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.
> 
> Thoughts about external drives:
> 
> - FireWire is gone.  Let that be a lesson.
> 
> - eSATA is probably going to disappear.  It isn't common.  For
>   longevity, pick USB 3.

I find it is in lots of places.  I do have external backups drives with
both USB3 and eSata which I find convinient.  That is on a larger one with
an external power supply though.  I haven't seen too many eSATAp drives.

> - eSATA has a couple of advantages and disadvantages
>   + faster than USB2 (important for older computers)
>   + makes S.M.A.R.T. features of the drive available to the computer.
>   - hot-plug is very system-dependant and not well documented.
> 
> - 2.5" is so much more convenient than 3.5
>   + one cable vs separate data and power cable

At least with USB3.  With USB2 in the past that wasn't always true.

>   + no power supply brick
>   + physically smaller
>   + bare drives are meant to survive physical shock better
> (laptops need more robust drives than desktops)
> 
> - the price difference between 2.5" and 3.5" isn't bad

Can't get quite as large drives in 2.5" but that might not be a problem.

> - external drives are usually cheaper than bare drives!  Very odd.

Not what I have seen, although if they are, you might not be comparing
against the right bare drive.  Some external enclosures use lower
spec drives (less cache, lower RPM, etc) since they figure they don't
actually need the performance if connected by USB.  They are not the
primary drive for the system after all.

> - you should size your drives appropriately for your workflow
>   Seagate 4T 2.5" drives are amazingly inexpensive once in a while
>   (I've collected a few at ~$125 + tax).  But a lot of eggs fit in
>   that basket.
> 
> - WD external drives are encrypted.  You cannot take the drive out of a 
>   busted enclosure to recover the data.  Seagate drives are can be taken 
>   out of the enclosure and read (at least until recently; any changes are 
>   unlikely to be announced).  The reason WD does this is probably to 
>   maintain the price premium for bare drives.  It makes a small number of 
>   failure modes worse for WD drives than Seagate drives.

Only some WD drives are encrypted.  Some use a custom connector though
which would be quite a pain.

Apparently some of them they put the USB interface right on the drive
controller board, so it doesn't even have a SATA connector.  This seems
to be the case of the WD element for example.

> - I've bought a few inexpensive NAS boxes.  Very convenient but the
>   firmware gets obsolete and security might be a problem.  They seem
>   fairly slow.
> 
> - USB flash memory sticks are very convenient but their reliability
>   seems unpredictable and bad.
> 
> - assume that all drives fail.  If all your drives are of one model,
>   they may all fail the same way at roughly the same time.  But most
>   backup plans assume that each failure is independent.  OOPS.

Yes backups should be a set of disks in rotation.  You don't want to be
overwriting your only backup while doing a new backup since that means
you have no backup for a while and that could be the moment your main
disk decides to fail.

> - consider using archival CDs or DVDs as a supplement to hard drives.
>   Mag Tape seems to be a gonner.
> 
> - low-acid paper is pretty useful but only for low-volume archiving.
>   Even more so for clay tablets.
> 
> - the only safe archival plan involves regular copying of the data.
>   Copying must include verifying.  "Regular" means at a frequency
>   significantly higher than the expected failure rate of the medium
>   (obsolescence is a kind of failure).  This copying should be
>   scheduled when the previous copy is made to increase the chances
>   that it will actually happen.  Discipline!  This is something I have
>   failed at too often in my half century of playing with computers.
> 
> - pick you filesystem carefully
>   - some may become obsolete
>   - some try to survive limited medium errors
> 
> - archived data needs to be indexed in some way that it can be found.
>   It must be in a format that will be accessible when it is needed.
>   This is a big topic.

All good advice.

Not sure I want to use clay tablets.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-03 Thread D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk 

| From: Jason Shaw via talk 

| I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as
| they are USB powered,  USB 3, and small form factor.  I get decent
| performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after
| the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.

Thoughts about external drives:

- FireWire is gone.  Let that be a lesson.

- eSATA is probably going to disappear.  It isn't common.  For
  longevity, pick USB 3.

- eSATA has a couple of advantages and disadvantages
  + faster than USB2 (important for older computers)
  + makes S.M.A.R.T. features of the drive available to the computer.
  - hot-plug is very system-dependant and not well documented.

- 2.5" is so much more convenient than 3.5
  + one cable vs separate data and power cable
  + no power supply brick
  + physically smaller
  + bare drives are meant to survive physical shock better
(laptops need more robust drives than desktops)

- the price difference between 2.5" and 3.5" isn't bad

- external drives are usually cheaper than bare drives!  Very odd.

- you should size your drives appropriately for your workflow
  Seagate 4T 2.5" drives are amazingly inexpensive once in a while
  (I've collected a few at ~$125 + tax).  But a lot of eggs fit in
  that basket.

- WD external drives are encrypted.  You cannot take the drive out of a 
  busted enclosure to recover the data.  Seagate drives are can be taken 
  out of the enclosure and read (at least until recently; any changes are 
  unlikely to be announced).  The reason WD does this is probably to 
  maintain the price premium for bare drives.  It makes a small number of 
  failure modes worse for WD drives than Seagate drives.

- I've bought a few inexpensive NAS boxes.  Very convenient but the
  firmware gets obsolete and security might be a problem.  They seem
  fairly slow.

- USB flash memory sticks are very convenient but their reliability
  seems unpredictable and bad.

- assume that all drives fail.  If all your drives are of one model,
  they may all fail the same way at roughly the same time.  But most
  backup plans assume that each failure is independent.  OOPS.

- consider using archival CDs or DVDs as a supplement to hard drives.
  Mag Tape seems to be a gonner.

- low-acid paper is pretty useful but only for low-volume archiving.
  Even more so for clay tablets.

- the only safe archival plan involves regular copying of the data.
  Copying must include verifying.  "Regular" means at a frequency
  significantly higher than the expected failure rate of the medium
  (obsolescence is a kind of failure).  This copying should be
  scheduled when the previous copy is made to increase the chances
  that it will actually happen.  Discipline!  This is something I have
  failed at too often in my half century of playing with computers.

- pick you filesystem carefully
  - some may become obsolete
  - some try to survive limited medium errors

- archived data needs to be indexed in some way that it can be found.
  It must be in a format that will be accessible when it is needed.
  This is a big topic.
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-03 Thread Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk 

Please see below.

Steve

- Original Message - 
From: "znoteer--- via talk" <talk@gtalug.org>

To: <talk@gtalug.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 3:32 PM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and 
Recommended Backup Software)




On Thu, Feb 2, 2017, at 11:01, Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk wrote:






6. Includes a custom-designed and compact, easily-attached retro-fit



"grip" for the portable HDD, the grip eliminates all cable
strain on the
USB-A connector, yet is small enough so that the portable HDD,
together
with the grip and coiled USB-A-to-USB-C cable, still all easily
fit into
a small Canada Post P.O. box at any Postal Outlet. (Although the fine
print in the CP P.O. Box rental contract, specifically excludes box
use
for "storage". I have never had any problems with my local Postal



Outlet, over my storing backup media in the box.)




Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.



Not a very good idea, I must admit.







My thinking for this USB HDD docking station design is, once my new



debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking



station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded



premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a



deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station.




I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!



I'm kind of hoping for a backup dock "magic bullet" to come flying at me 
from GTALUG, so I won't have to actually develop a new dock.


If I do decide that there's no other satisfactory backup dock solution, 
then certainly GTALUG will be the first to know about any crowd-funded 
initiative. It's GTALUG after all, who are responsible for sparking the 
idea, in the first place :)


I'm thinking of open-sourcing any dock device design anyway, so if I do 
open source it, I would share it with GTALUG.





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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-03 Thread Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk 

Please see below.

Steve

- Original Message - 
From: "Stewart C. Russell via talk" <talk@gtalug.org>

To: <talk@gtalug.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and 
Recommended Backup Software)




On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:


Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.


CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they 
suspect

is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.



Very true. I'm not happy with using the CP P.O. Box, but I really don't 
have much choice at the moment.


I was formerly using a mailbox at a nearby UPS Store, and their 
management had no problems with the backup media storage concept. But 
unfortunately, the owners of that UPS franchise location closed the 
store, and now the nearest available UPS Store is too far away.


I was thinking of approaching the Oakville Public Library, to see if 
they might perhaps be interested in getting in to the offsite storage 
business. They have a very extensive system of branch locations, and 
they run a pretty impressive operation for keeping track of lots of 
small items containing information ...



I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!


SATA docks are already a commodity thing, with video users moving 
tonnes
of data around via bare drives in slip cases. Canada Computers has USB 
3

SATA docks for under $40.



I did look at SATA docks, and found only the one from www.startech.com 
that had a cooling fan, but I'll go back and look again. Maybe a cooling 
fan isn't so important, for a backup drive that isn't being hammered 
constantly 24 / 7 with updates?


It would make me feel a little nervous, the idea of slinging around an 
HDD with an exposed SATA bus connector. USB gives me a better feeling of 
comfort, since the USB connector is designed to be end-user operable, 
and presumably likely is more robust than the SATA, under conditions of 
e.g. static electrical effects.



cheers,
Stewart

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-03 Thread Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk 

Please see below.

Steve

- Original Message - 
From: "Michael Galea via talk" <talk@gtalug.org>

To: <talk@gtalug.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and 
Recommended Backup Software)




On 02/02/17 16:54, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:

On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:


Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.


CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they 
suspect

is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.

A standard 5" hard drive just fits into the smallest safety deposit 
box at my local bank, so that's what I use.  This runs me ~$40 a year, 
but I have other stuff I have to store there anyway so its costless.




Certainly a bank SDB is a far more secure and safe storage facility, 
than a Postal Outlet P.O. Box.


I suppose it depends on how often one swaps the off-site backup. I swap 
mine three (3) or more times a week, and I don't relish the idea of 
going though the linup, signature, etc. rigamarole at my bank, so often.



--
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-02 Thread Michael Galea via talk 

On 02/02/17 16:54, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:

On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:


Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.


CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they suspect
is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.

A standard 5" hard drive just fits into the smallest safety deposit box 
at my local bank, so that's what I use.  This runs me ~$40 a year, but I 
have other stuff I have to store there anyway so its costless.


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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-02 Thread znoteer--- via talk 
On Thu, Feb 2, 2017, at 11:01, Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk wrote:

> 

> 6. Includes a custom-designed and compact, easily-attached retro-fit

> "grip" for the portable HDD, the grip eliminates all cable
> strain on the
> USB-A connector, yet is small enough so that the portable HDD,
> together
> with the grip and coiled USB-A-to-USB-C cable, still all easily
> fit into
> a small Canada Post P.O. box at any Postal Outlet. (Although the fine
> print in the CP P.O. Box rental contract, specifically excludes box
> use
> for "storage". I have never had any problems with my local Postal

> Outlet, over my storing backup media in the box.)



Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.





> My thinking for this USB HDD docking station design is, once my new

> debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking

> station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded

> premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a

> deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station.



I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!



--

 

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-02 Thread Lennart Sorensen via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 04:05:31PM -0500, Alvin Starr wrote:
> Trying to explain to people why they need a whole bunch of spare
> computers and take days of solid work to test disaster recovery is
> always a hard sell.
> 
> You usually get a look like "what are you incompetent? You should just
> do it right the first time and not need to test".

Well they could at least have looked that the backups appeared to
contain data.  Apparently they didn't even do that and had essentially
zero byte backups.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-02 Thread Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk 
HDD docking station design is, once my new 
debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking 
station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded 
premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a 
deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station.


All good fun !!

Best Regards,

Steve

apet...@aspetrie.net

- Original Message - 
From: "Alvin Starr via talk" <talk@gtalug.org>

To: <talk@gtalug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and 
Recommended Backup Software)




On 02/01/2017 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:

Hello!

I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my
files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:

- Reliable
- Portable
- Price Under $100
- at least 500 GB in size
- USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in)
- no additional software included (an empty file system without 
having

to immediately reformat the drive if possible)
- Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)

In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based
back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup
(http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've 
read

but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they
prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or 
an

easy-to-use interface.

Thanks so much in advance!

Brad



I would suggest a NAS box just because you can stick it in a corner 
and
just about everything you will want to backup will connect to the 
network.

Or even backup over wifi.

I have had mixed luck with USB drives.
I find they are ok for moving some files around but trying to clone a
lot of files tends to break some usb->sata chip-sets.


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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Alvin Starr via talk 
On 02/01/2017 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my
> files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
>
> - Reliable
> - Portable
> - Price Under $100
> - at least 500 GB in size
> - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in)
> - no additional software included (an empty file system without having
> to immediately reformat the drive if possible)
> - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
>
> In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based
> back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup
> (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read
> but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they
> prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an
> easy-to-use interface.
>
> Thanks so much in advance!
>
> Brad
>

I would suggest a NAS box just because you can stick it in a corner and
just about everything you will want to backup will connect to the network.
Or even backup over wifi.

I have had mixed luck with USB drives.
I find they are ok for moving some files around but trying to clone a
lot of files tends to break some usb->sata chip-sets.


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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Alvin Starr via talk 
On 02/01/2017 03:55 PM, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 02:51:02PM -0200, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
>> Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had
>> 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they
>> could not recover lost data...
> 5 different incorrectly configured and untested procedures.
>
> That's pretty much the definition of how not to do backup.
>
Trying to explain to people why they need a whole bunch of spare
computers and take days of solid work to test disaster recovery is
always a hard sell.

You usually get a look like "what are you incompetent? You should just
do it right the first time and not need to test".

SIGH.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Lennart Sorensen via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 11:49:32AM -0500, Jason Shaw via talk wrote:
> Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen.
> 
> I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as
> they are USB powered,  USB 3, and small form factor.  I get decent
> performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after
> the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.

The WD elements are plain external drives.  The WD passport comes with
windows backup software and encryption and other things that probably
at best are not useful with linux and at worst might make the drive more
difficult to actually use with linux.

So the WD elements is probably better to look at.

https://community.wd.com/t/how-do-i-unlock-wd-my-passport-in-linux/10572/2
points out that using the encryption on the WD passport makes it unusable
with linux.

Canada computers appears to have a WD elements 1TB drive for $85.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Lennart Sorensen via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 02:51:02PM -0200, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
> Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had
> 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they
> could not recover lost data...

5 different incorrectly configured and untested procedures.

That's pretty much the definition of how not to do backup.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Giles Orr via talk 
On 1 February 2017 at 14:00, William Park via talk  wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:13:17PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
>> On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote:
>> 
>> > You have 2 options here:
>> > - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this)
>> > - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself.
>> 
>>
>> William,
>>
>> Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external
>> drives based on my requirements?
>
> WD and Adata seem to be at the front, marketing wise.  Not sure about
> reliability, since I don't have them.  My main issue with external 2.5"
> harddisks is power issue.  Peak current of 500mA USB2 and 900mA USB3 may
> not be enough.

About a decade ago they used to make drives with three USB connectors:
one to the drive, and two to the host machine so they could draw up to
twice as much power.  Every experience I've had since then (across
multiple computers, multiple external 2.5" drives, and eight to ten
years) suggests that excessive current draw simply isn't a problem.
External portable drives "just work:" that's a decade old problem that
should be laid to rest.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread William Park via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:13:17PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
> On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote:
> 
> > You have 2 options here:
> > - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this)
> > - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself.
> 
> 
> William,
> 
> Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external
> drives based on my requirements?

WD and Adata seem to be at the front, marketing wise.  Not sure about
reliability, since I don't have them.  My main issue with external 2.5"
harddisks is power issue.  Peak current of 500mA USB2 and 900mA USB3 may
not be enough.
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Giles Orr via talk 
> On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk 
> wrote:
>> I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my
>> files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
>>
>> - Reliable
>> - Portable
>> - Price Under $100
>> - at least 500 GB in size
>> - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in)
>> - no additional software included (an empty file system without having
>> to immediately reformat the drive if possible)
>> - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
>>
>> In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based
>> back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup
>> (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read
>> but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they
>> prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an
>> easy-to-use interface.
>>
>> Thanks so much in advance!

On 1 February 2017 at 11:49, Jason Shaw via talk  wrote:
> Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen.
>
> I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as they
> are USB powered,  USB 3, and small form factor.  I get decent performance
> out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after the initial
> sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.

I'll second the vote for the Western Digital Passports.  They're
spinning disks, but your SSD >500G for <$100 ain't happening.  And
besides, it's a backup, not your operating system, so slow should be
okay.  I've been using multiples of this series for about four years
for backups with no problems, traded up from the 2TB to the 4TB about
a year ago.  You can sometimes find the 2TB for about $110.  If the
price-point is important, the 1TB is currently $100 at Newegg (
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236786_re=western_digital_portable_external_hd-_-22-236-786-_-Product
) - may be cheaper elsewhere, I haven't checked.  The price varies
frequently, check Amazon, Canada Computers, and Best Buy as well.

I use rsync - my backups to the Passport drives usually takes about 20
minutes.  Initial prep of a 250G partition will take an hour or two,
but the differential backup after that isn't too bad.  I recommend
having at least two of the drives - this means you can have rotating
backups and it also means that you can store one off-site.

Jason is recommending incremental backups, which would be better than
rsync.  I need to spend the time to figure out the differences between
rsnapshot and rdiff-backup, make the choice, and get myself set up.

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread William Park via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:06:58PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
> On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
> > Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab
> > had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when
> > they could not recover lost data... 
> 
> 
> This Stack Exchange thread seems to be useful:
> http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1067/what-directories-do-i-need-to-back-up

For beginner (since you're asking this sort of questions), backup
everything.  You can decide what to restore later.
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Brad Fonseca via talk 
On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote:

> You have 2 options here:
> - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this)
> - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself.


William,

Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external
drives based on my requirements?

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Brad Fonseca via talk 
On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
> Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab
> had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when
> they could not recover lost data... 


This Stack Exchange thread seems to be useful:
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1067/what-directories-do-i-need-to-back-up

"Under most circumstances you want to backup these:

/home/ for user data and configuration
/etc/ for system wide configuration files
/var/ contains a mix of directories you usually want to backup and
those you don't want to backup. See below for a more detailed explanation.

Some more directories to consider are:

/usr/local/ hand-installed packages (i.e. not installed through apt)
are installed here. If you have packages installed here, you may want to
backup the whole directory, so you don't have to reinstall them. If the
packages themselves aren't important to you, it should be enough to
backup /usr/local/etc/ and /usr/local/src/
/opt/ if you didn't store anything here, you don't need to back it
up. If you stored something here, you are in the best position to
decide, if you want to back it up.
/srv/ much like /opt/, but is by convention more likely to contain
data you actually want to backup.
/root/ stores configuration for the root user. If that is important
to you, you should back it up.

"

Brad

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread William Park via talk 
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 11:37:04AM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my
> files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
> 
> - Reliable
> - Portable
> - Price Under $100
> - at least 500 GB in size
> - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in)
> - no additional software included (an empty file system without having
> to immediately reformat the drive if possible)
> - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)

You have 2 options here:
- buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this)
- get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself.
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Brad Fonseca via talk 
On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
> Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab
> had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when
> they could not recover lost data... 


Good point! I guess I should verify what I should be backing up and how
to restore in the case of a failure.

To start, I assume that /home should be a target. What other directories
would make sense to back up?

Thanks,

Brad

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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Jason Shaw via talk 
Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen.

I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as
they are USB powered,  USB 3, and small form factor.  I get decent
performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after
the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.

-jason

On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk 
wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my
> files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
>
> - Reliable
> - Portable
> - Price Under $100
> - at least 500 GB in size
> - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in)
> - no additional software included (an empty file system without having
> to immediately reformat the drive if possible)
> - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
>
> In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based
> back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup
> (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read
> but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they
> prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an
> easy-to-use interface.
>
> Thanks so much in advance!
>
> Brad
>
> --
> Brad Fonseca
> Mobile: 416-876-2191
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Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)

2017-02-01 Thread Scott Allen via talk 
On 1 February 2017 at 11:37, Brad Fonseca via talk  wrote:
> In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based
> back-up software.

Here we go again ...

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