[list] [ale] Need advice on home back-up solution

[Geoffrey]

David Corbin wrote:

>> Further, a harddrive just isn't as durable as a tape.  You probably
>> don't want to chunk the tape backup into the trunk of your car, but
>> you could.  I wouldn't do that with the drive.  I guess it also
>> depends on how you feel about having an offsite backup.  If your
>> drives are all in the same place, you're not protected.
> 
> 
> I just take one off to the safe deposit box periodically.

And go buy another drive?

>> Sure, the cost of a big drive is cheaper than a tape device, but
>> that drive will eventually fill up, unless you're just blowing away
>> your previous backup, which would mean you don't have a very robust
>> backup solution.  If you cost out drives vs. tapes per gig, I
>> suspect you'll eventually win on the tape side.
>> 
> 
> 
> I have a backup for 2 reasons: 1 Hard drives fail (often, compared to
> other computer components) and true disaster (house burns down).  I
> don't need a backup of anything more than a day old.  Two disks meet
> this needs.

Not a business solution then?

> 
> Tapes are not really very good long-term storage.  I often run into
> trouble trying to read a tape that wasn't "just written".

Define 'just written'?

> I figure the chances of both my mirrored drives + the offsite drive
> failing at the same time are very small.  The trick is not to
> procrastinate when one DOES fail.

So you have two drives in the box, one offsite?  I guess that works, but 
it's not a robust backup solution, but you said it meets your needs and 
that's what counts.  Certainly wouldn't be acceptable in a business env. 
though.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey	esoteric at 3times25.net

Building secure systems inspite of Microsoft