[ale] Low-end tapedrives for SOHO environment

[griffisb at bellsouth.net]

>  
> From: "Greg" <runman at speedfactory.net> 
>  
> I have experienced this firsthand.  Since I have more programs than I would 
> care to admit, it takes a several weekends to get my main box even close to 
> what it was before I have had to reinstall.  If you are running a stock box 
> with documented changes then perhaps it "might" not be so bad.  But I 
> suspect that most folks (especially IT types) have their main PC's full of 
> little programs, links, scripts, etc etc that need to be backed up. A full 
> backup is a whole lot less painful than trying to recreate a box.  After you 
> have updated, upgraded, and patched a box it's even worse. 
>  
> Greg 
 
Thanks Greg, and also (back a post) thanks to the guy that suggested looking at the TAO of 
backups. For home use, my desktop is pretty much vanilla (I clobbered myself too many times 
building from CVS and doing other things I'm just not ready for) - so for me, bone stock SuSE 
8.2, with the exception of Samba server tossed in. 
 
My wife's and son's laptop was stock WinXP, but now has too many things thrown in. If I could 
convince her to lose the MS stuff, I'd much prefer going with a good desktop Linux solution (with 
CD's for backup). Don't think that'll happen. 
 
My work laptop is dualboot RH9 and Win2K with WAY too many different apps, and way too 
much data all over the place. I do complete backups, but haven't had to restore yet. We'll see 
how that goes (the disk is going, I have a new disk - I'll bring it in to the office to see if they can 
duplicate and restore. If not, well - the backups might come in handy). 
 
The sticky part comes in when I think of doing backups at church. The PC's are used by multiple 
people, and have been used for several years. Some original CDs (and licenses) are around. A 
lot just can no longer be located. That would be a bear to sort through the desktops.  
 
But whatever I decide to do for the church, I will first do at home - decide on a backup solution. 
Do backups. Nuke a PC and rebuild it.