Re: Backup solutions.

I still use external HDs, DVD's and flash drives.

I back up my personal data onto a 160gb external every few weeks, as well as
a ghosted image of my partition (updated when I make any major changes).
Used to windows crashing, can be up and running in about an hour. Make a
dvd copy of my files when I have enough for one. Think I have 6-7gb ready
for the next one in a week or so. If the 160gb crashes I'll lose my ghosted
image and up to 8gb at most.

I back up the business server data once a week to my flashdrive, create a
zip once a month and toss that on my 320gb external. Have the folder of
.zip files here, and a dvd backup both at the office and here. Worst case
scenario I lose a week of backup, head to the office and take over the
server for 20-30min to backup again. Server has been running since sept
2004, have an 80gb external on-site. When it crashes, I can be up and
running again in a couple hours.

Even if I need to format any of the systems I work on, all it takes is an
hour or so to be up and running, maybe 3-4 if I have a pile of data to
restore.

On 6/4/07, Dave Hall <dave-slg@dnh.sk.ca> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 05:23:11PM -0600, Lance Levsen wrote:
> > I guess this is two-fold. My real question is, am I paranoid enough? :)
>
> It's basically an exercise of risk assessment and managment.
>
> The big thing here is to try and quantify the value of your data. If it's
> lost, what is the cost. Some data may be worth more than other data (e.g.
> accounts receivable data is probably more valuable than a library of
> downloaded software which can be easily replaced). Also factor in partial
> data loss (eg the data lost between backups) and downtime.
>
> Now, look at the probability of losing the data. If you dig around on the
> net, you should be able to come up with some data to compute the chance of
> a failure for your primary storage.
>
> To calculate your exposure, multiply the probability of failure by the
> value
> or cost of the data. Your backup solution should not cost more than this.
> Adding a backup solution will reduce your exposure since the backup
> reduces
> the risk of data loss. Also consider insurance, it may be cheaper to just
> do a basic daily backup on DAT tape and pay for insurance against the
> building blowing up or whatever disaster may happen. Of course, it may be
> better to use an off-site remote, live backup solution.
>
> > Obviously there are constraints. The data is more important than
> > continuous uptime, so we choose to have a system go down for half a day
> > replacing a store-bought drive from backup rather then relying on RAID
> > for drive failure contingency.
>
> This tells me you've thought about this a bit. If downtime is not
> expensive
> and assuming you can afford to lose a day of data, nightly backup and a
> plain (non-RAID) drive is probably good enough.
>
> At work, I do daily differentials and a weekly full backup on a 6 week
> cycle to near-line storage for most data. More important data is also
> shipped off to tape (2 copies, one off site and one on site).
>
> On my linode, I just do the daily differential to my server at home. I
> run a
> full backup only if I make significant changes to the system. I only keep
> the last few differentials around. On my home systems, critical stuff is
> copied to another disc spindle in the same box.
>
> --
>
> Dave
>
>
> --
> I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud internet connection to a
> 1.5 megabit fiberoptic T1 line. Will you be able to provide an IP
> router that's compatible with my token ring ethernet LAN configuration?
>
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>
Received on Tue Jun 5 03:28:07 2007