3 Nov
2010
3 Nov
'10
5:02 p.m.
There really isn't any other option.
I have several TB of data, and I use a set of 2TB drives as backups to the production 2TB
drives.
cost about $100 per drive.
once a year, I replace the backup drives with new ones, whether they need it or not.
this keeps the data/magnetic cohesion fresh and limits the possibility of loss.
I can't use DVDs, because even a single 2TB drive would need about 450 disks.
Plus if even one disk gets cracked, scratched or corrupted, there goes that data.
Plus the cost is still higher than HDs would be (at least where I am).
Blu-ray disks hold more, 25gb, still needs 200 of those, and the price is insane.
Also DVDs and Blu-Ray disks would take hours (if not days, weeks, etc) to actually write
with one burner.
backing up one 2TB to another doesn't take long at all, still long, but much better.
I'd love to see someone make a HD jukebox device
Dan.
From: terry at webweavers.co.nz
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Backups in the modern world
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 10:19:24 +1300
Given the high reliability of most hard drives these days, I do wonder if
many people have forgotten that this technology can occasionally fail. At
work here (Not an IT environment), I have an automatic backup which runs
every day. A lot of my collegues don't have such a safeguard though. Some
younger ones have never experienced a hard disk failure so don't even
consider they might happen. The irony is that with nearly all work
environments using computers so extensively with less "hard copy" being kept
data loss can be catastrophic!
I wonder how many home-based computers back up regularly? Again, I know
lots of people that don't citing reasons that it's just too hard to set up,
they have to buy extra hardware etc. Some of the address books, pictures
and home movies on those machines might be irreplaceable though.
Although it's a lot rarer than it used to be technology still fails. In my
working life, I've had about three catastophic HD failures. In each case,
the existance on a "day before" backup mean it was an annoyance rather than
a disaster! The latest was only two years ago.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted. (-:
Terry Stewart (Tezza)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: Fragility in the floppy world (was Re: TRS-80 Model II Manuals)
On 2 Nov 2010 at 17:25, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I am seriosulyt worried by the fact that a group of programmers who are
capable of writing a compiler didn't realise the value of backups. I
can't beklieve tht nobody had ever lost data before.
-tony
That's the tried-and-true way of reading a
diskette that's had Coke
spilled on it. After the world switched to 3.5" floppies, doing these
sorts of things (mostly) faded into the mists.
Years ago, my little group using an Intel MDS-800 finished up a
compiler project way ahead of schedule. Management was so impressed
that they had T-shirts printed up and threw us a party, complete with
(really cheap) champagne. (I still have the T-shirt, but it doesn't
fit me anymore.)
We had the source code 8" floppies on a little shrine sort of display
so better to appreciate what we'd done. And no, we didn't have a
master backup of the thing, although we might have been able to
recreate it with bits from various people's private copies.