Re: Reminder: Back up your data

"Claude V. Lucas" <claudel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4a36a1de$0$1631$742ec2ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <wq2dneGmoJJiA6vXnZ2dnUVZ_j-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Patrick Keenan <test@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Claude V. Lucas" <claudel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4a3684ba$0$1648$742ec2ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <2t2kp3.9rp.19.11@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Meat Plow <meat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:19:43 -0400, "Patrick Keenan"
<test@xxxxxxxx>wrote:

"Robert Machado" <robmachado@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:NCiZl.18948$jZ1.14751@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The old laptop I use for recording in the dungeon I call a basement bit
the dust on Thursday night.

On Tuesday night, two days earlier, I backed up all my data files onto
my
thumb drive that I have set aside ONLY for my guitar related projects.
It
was the first time I had done this in about 6 months, and I averted a
mini-disaster. So, this is just your friendly reminder to back up
whatever you have as soon as you can. It didn't take that long, and it
really saved a major headache.

Rob

Excellent point.

In such cases, often (but certainly not always) the data on the drive is
recoverable. So, having the tools to connect the drive to another
system
is a very good idea - these can cost you about $30 or less.

However, USB thumb drives have a tendency to suddenly, permanently, and
irretrievably fail, with absolutely no warning. They aren't appropriate
for backup, and should only be used for convenient transfer of files that
you have elsewhere.

Do *not* rely on these drives for backups or storage! If that's your
backup, make another copy right away on another media type, and do not
rely
on one copy.

Hard disks and cases are cheap and easily available; 80 gig drives, if
you
can find drives that small, are in the $50 range, and half-terabyte
drives
are under $100. Cases start around $20. This is a vastly better
solution
than a thumb drive. Again, don't rely on one single backup.

HTH
-pk


The thumb drives of today are much more reliable than those of not too
distant past. Only problem is that the device writes to itself in a
radically different way than data is written to a hard drive. Since
flash memory has a finite life (can be written/read to a certain
number of times) the designers have come up with a read and write
strategy in the form of an algorithm that writes/reads to the entire
memory spreading the data out. This way insures that no one part of
the memory will be used more than the other for obvious reasons.

If you interrupt the process while in use you can corrupt the file
system and render the device useless. This is only because these
devices are hotplug and user accessable. I use them all the time for
work and play. In my BlackBerry, cameras USB thumb drives etc...
I can only remember one I've ever had go bad and that was back when
they were not available any larger than 256 megs IIRC. I have two 8
gig Sandisk Cruizers that I use to move stuff, backup stuff, install
etc... I like the Cruizer because the USB plug retracts. However I
still don't trust them 100% and all the critical stuff gets to a file
server with two 300 gig driver that backs itself up nightly from one
drive to the other. This is the best way or a hardware RAID. But
RAIDS aren't perfect either, Screw up the container and gone is your
data.

Not to whip the OSX horse too much more, but it's incredibly easy
to clone hard drives with a ~$30 utility program. The clones are
even bootable. When the drive in my iMac shat the bed a few months
ago I replaced it, booted on my backup and cloned back to the internal
with a couple of clicks. The backups are in the same filesystem type
as the original so it's quite easy to recover individual files as well.

There's utilities to clone drives under Windows too but I don't know
of any that will make a viable clone of a booted system disc. That
doesn't mean that there aren't any...

I regularly make viable clones of running Windows installs using Acronis
TrueImage, which is in the $50 range. It's really easy and quick, and
very reliable. The same mechanisms also create backups of selected files
and groups of files, and they are very easy to recover or check. It does
differential backups too, and it's easy to set up so that you get versions
from different days.

Since you mention OSX, a quick comment about running scheduled backups on
Windows: The Windows task scheduler needs a non-blank password on the user
account, or it will silently fail. If the password is there, no problem.
You can change this behaviour, but it's a security feature; the problem is
actually that it's poorly documented.

TI has worked extremely well for me for some years now, and I've made a
reasonable amount off its use. Making an image is usually my first step if
I'm remotely unsure about the system I'm servicing. Generally the whole
process takes me well under an hour, and I can work away in a much more
relaxed manner, knowing that I've got a good copy of all the files; the
client knows this too, and that relaxes them. If it blows up, I'll just
take out a spare drive and we'll start over.

I'm looking forward to a drop in the price of Blu-Ray writers and media, as
DVDs often aren't quite big enough to contain a complete OS-and-application
install.

Anyway, the OP is on the right track; backups are often neglected, and are
necessary. Things like TI make it very easy to make reliable backups in
just a few minutes, with just a couple of clicks.

I have an older version of TI that you have to boot on to clone.
Works great for what it is. I don't have any Windows machines to
back up or else I'd update it. I don't really trust scheduled
backups for my own personal information for a number of reasons.
I like to hit the button and watch it finish...

I'm tempted to cough up for one of these...

<http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRF8BDSD8X/>

but not for backup. A 1Tb drive is ~$100 these days...

True, but the issues of drive failure and single points of failure can still exist. Many places I go use a separate optical disk backup for each workday, and once a week one copy goes home with somebody.



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