In article , Bob Eager writes
Please check data for current products.
Disk arrays usually. The bottleneck is almost invariably storage subsystem throughput. In big systems you have to limit libraries to a max of two tape drives per SCSI bus, otherwise the bus can't handle the throughput either.
Regards,
Simonm.
In article , Rod Hewitt writes
There are plenty of nominally-faster disks around, but burst speed means nothing in the context of backup systems. Disks don't generally do RaW checking (there isn't time). In tape drives there's an adjacent head stack. Don't forget too that the fastest, linear, tape drives have multiple channels in use simultaneously. Disks have only one.
Regards,
Simonm.
Why backup "important" data to such an unstable medium?
Julian
I use Norton Ghost.
I only have one HD in my xp pro machine. Once in a while i temporarily connect a spare HD to the machine,boot using the norton ghost floppy and image my HD to the spare one. Works every time. I suppose i could permanently install the spare HD as a backup but i choose to store it safely somewhere
joe
I would be very surprised if you have all that much data that needs regularly backing up. I run a computer-related business using my PC and although I do produce a lot of important files I can get a month's worth of backups on a single CD-R.
It is worth spending a reasonable amount of time working out what you need to protect. Many people have tens or hundreds of gigabytes of stuff on their discs but it isn't important to back most of it up. Your applications can always be reinstalled from the original installation discs if you have an absolute disaster (but you shouldn't need to). There is no need to backup all the copies of your CDs you have stored in the "My Music" folder... but I bet many people do. If, like me, you do video processing on your machine there is also no need to backup the video files - either keep the original tape or make a separate copy to CD-R or DVD-R once (or twice to be safe). Digital photos should also be copied to removable discs separately and not be backed up regularly - after all, they don't change once you have them. Modern applications also fill your drive with all sorts of rubbish that you can generally live without. You only really need to concern yourself with what YOU have created.
Your Word documents, e-mails, etc. do need backing up every day (or every week at the outside). I use Backup-My-PC from Veritas and it does me very well. It is easy to use and backs up directly to CD-R. It is even easy to use when you need to restore lost files. And it is very quick... My daily backup takes about 2 minutes (and usually happens when I am not even there) and the weekly complete backup (only my data files) takes about 5 minutes. I also ensure there is a reasonably up-to-date copy off site, but I can cope with losing a few days work if my house burns down - that will be the least of my worries.
To allow you to get a lost system up and running quickly it is also worth having some system that copies everything. Tape works fine, but I would go for a separate disc. It's best not to have it in the same box (most things that are likely to kill your main disc will get both that way!). Go for either a FireWire or USB 2.0 drive or a different machine on a network (although nasty viruses etc. are also likely to kill anything on the same network). If you have a second disc you can have software that simply synchronises the two drives much quicker than copying to tape. Do this every month or two.
Another thing to consider... where is your backup software? If your house were to burn down but your files were safe in the detached garage how are you going to get them back into your new PC? Do you even remember the name of the software you used to make the backup? Do you know where you could get hold of another copy if yours went up in smoke...?
One parting shot: I have found that it is actually useful to reinstall everything every now and then so a complete backup is not always the best solution. Several times I have found that Windows has become hopelessly unstable and the only real cure is to re-install and start again. If you ever need to do this how easy would it be to restore your data, but not upset the freshly installed applications?
Sony have launched a reasonably new backup system of some sort. Anyone know what it is?
Having two HDs and disk mirroring will bring you up immediately if one HD drops out with no loss of data. A tape can back up the whole HD. If you want certain files immediately available, then backing these up to CDR is fine.
So if a HD fails you are up and running with no problems at all - all the same. Replace the defective HD and mirror back to it - simple. If a power surge destroys both HDs, or the PC is stolen, the tape will reinstate the lot.
No spending nearly a day re-installing OS's, applications, settings, data etc.
I have the same sort of situation, I have a "spare" pc in the loft running Linux and samba - all the PC's in the house have mapped network drives to this, and all users save files to the network
The server is then mirrored with another PC in the garage running windows, using some software on the windows PC called syncromagic
The Server in the loft is also backed up to AIT tape at least twice a month (I keep the tapes at work)
All PC's are UPS protected, and I have also just installed a generator with line conditioning.
I have the Linksys wireless router, and tried to establish a wireless connection to my workshop - the signal was pretty hopeless, so I ran Cat5 (also WiFi has vulnerability's, where if you collect enough data the WEP key can be worked out - so it is not totally secure!
If a "normal" pc breaks down, it is a reinstall of windows and all the relevant software, but this is not a bad thing usually, as by the time it happens, there is usually new versions of everything anyway!
Sparks...
You may find Second Copy useful at automating that process.
Something I really must do more often. :-/
Streaming drives do. Not all tape drives are streamers.
There is if you cost the time required to make the copies in the first place.
There's your problem, then.
Thanks for that - I hadn't seen it before. Will take a further look shortly......
PoP
Something which would trouble me if I put a PC in the loft is that in the summer it gets stinking hot, and in the winter freezing cold. PCs are generally specced to work in the range 5-40 degrees C and I feel sure that temperature range could be exceeded.
I'm curious about whether this might be a problem for your installation?
PoP
I took a look and then ordered a copy online. Beats the pants off the software I was using previously to do this job.
PoP
One point to remember when talking about high performance tape drives is they are not priced for the home user!
For example an HP Ultrium 230e that can stream over at 30Mbps costs the best part of three and a half grand for the drive alone!
Firstly thats not true, secondly it doesnt solve the problem.
I dont run AV 24/7 because it causes problems: just do a scan periodically, and when accepting files.
As for imagining an AV product makes you immune to viri, erm, no. Not only are they not that effective, but Av products sometimes even _give_ you viri.
everything except your year's data, sure.
Regards, NT
It would be true if he only used his PC for something like games where the stored data is small and could be lost without much heartache.
phil
I can't quite believe how many PC experts we seem to have on this forum. Little wonder Joe Public feels he gets such a raw deal when he's talking to someone who is PC literate - there are as many (if not more) opinions as the number of people you speak to.
PoP
This is because there is so many ways to backup. There are cheap ways and expensive ways. Some are more complex, some easy, some comprehensive, some not. Take your choice.
Hello David
Due to far too many failing HD's, my system's had some extensive testing this year - and so far has worked perfectly. Might be a little complicated, but it does work.
I'd personally go for wired LAN, but dealer's choice.
My system at work, which backs up five PCs running Win98.
Wired LAN.
Backup machine is a low spec PC called "ego" with a largish HD (40Gb). It runs Debian (a free linux OS). This makes it immune from lan-spread viruses, and also allows you to run lots of other stuff like caches, mail server, print server, web server - without slowing down your main machine.
ego connects to all the other machines using Samba which interacts perfectly with Microsoft networking.
Four times a day, ego copies files from each of the other machines - but only the files that have changed. This takes almost no time at all and unlike doing this by windows, also copies system data and the registry.
This effectively mirrors the other PC's drives, but doesn't remove deleted files, so eventually it does need a prune (I simply move the backup elsewhere on the drive and start afresh).
Steps:
Because the LAN is only 10M/s, it doesn't push enough traffic through to significantly slow down the other computer, so it's backing up while you're using it and 9/10 you never even notice.
Reinstall after failure is fast:
(I've needed to do this 4 times this year, Maxtor no longer seem to make reliable drives)
At most 3 hours data loss for no slowdown, negligable ongoing costs, expensive backup software (all free!) and NO need to remember to backup manually. You can even make it email you to tell you it's done each backup, when something went wrong or when it's running out of drive space.
Perhaps not for everyone, but it's proved its worth for me. Just remember that all backup strategies are fine, UNTIL you need to use them - that's what sorts out the good from bad.
Hard drives are absurdly cheap now, they're the only media worth considering for large backups.
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