[ale] Hard Drive Failures

[Dow Hurst]

I'm using Bacula and it really works for even a swamped guy like me.  I
worked through the docs enough to get it to do what I wanted.  Now if
something happens to the file server disks, I can rest easy since I've
tested recoveries and backups are rock solid.  I recommend it.

Sincerely,
Dow
________________________________________________
Dow Hurst, Research Scientist
340 Sullivan Science Bldg., Dept. of Chem. and Biochem.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
PO Box 26170 Greensboro, NC 27402-6170



On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 7:35 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

> Inline with lots-o-snipping ...
>
> On 02/21/2013 08:04 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> > Agree mostly.  Disagree slightly.
>
> Completely understandable.
>
> > What I will lose is a good amount of sleep and hassle.  I far and away
> prefer
> > to have image backups versus any other kind.  If the drive did puke, and
> I
> > didn't have a recent image, it would take me probably a week to
> reinstall the
> > os, reinstall all the apps, configure all the apps, install plugins in
> the
> > apps, configure all the plugins on all the apps, and do all the system
> tweaks
> > that I want to make the machine run the way I want.  It would probably
> take
> > me another few days to get all my email restored, and rebuild all my
> filters
> > to filter 10's of thousands of messages.
>
> If you do a backup correctly, it isn't a week to restore, but 15 minutes
> for a
> small box.  If it is a VM, less.  These are not image-based backups
> either.  To
> me, after critical data, settings are the most important things to backup
> AND
> restore. Using current Linux backups, it is fairly simple to backup
> everything
> and restore it.  Plus, because it is not extremely hardware sensitive,
> almost
> any machine can be used for the restore.
>
> > On the other hand, let's say I had cloned the hdd last night.  I swap in
> the
> > cloned drive, and I'm literally back up and running within 15 minutes.  I
> > just restore the latest data from my online backup, download any recent
> > email, and re do anything else I remember that occurred since the last
> online
> > backup up to 6 hours ago.
>
> I've cloned hard drives and still do. well, not really, but I do get a
> compressed image that can be restored.
>
> The main issue with cloning is that it loses backup versioning. We end up
> with a
> mirror and it is HUGE, compared to what actually changed.
>
> rdiff-backup supports versioned backups.  The first, is a mirror.  From
> that
> point on, only changed files are moved over into the "mirror" area. Any
> parts of
> files that are replaced during that process are moved into an archived area
> permissions captured and gzipped. Notice, that I said parts of files.  The
> latest backup is always a mirror, so restoring 1 file is just a cp.  File
> permissions (and ACLs with an addon) are retained across systems.  Diffs
> are
> retained in a highly efficient manner.  Depending on the change rate and
> size of
> your data, only 10-20% more storage is used for 30-60 days of versioned
> backups
> that required for the mirror. It is amazing.
>
> Basically, if a virus were to get onto the backup system through backup
> processing, I'd have 30 to 60 days to realize it and would see the day
> that the
> file changed.
>
> Plus all my settings are safe.  Probably under 10 seconds to restore
> ~/.config/
>
> > Relatively simple and painless.  If I can use something like Spinrite to
> > recover the drive, even if it's just to clone it to a replacement drive.
> > Then I don't lose any data or have to do any reconfiguration.
>
> What if your clone has the virus you didn't realize that you got 3 weeks
> ago?
> Or simply an important file that you've been working on off and on over 3
> weeks
> became corrupt?
>
> > The problem comes into play because I don't clone my drive every night.
>  I
> > don't like to leave the backup media attached, since a virus or
> electrical
> > problem could take it out.  So, I prefer to attach the backup media only
> when
> > I clone the drive.  Also, I have to reboot the machine and boot from a
> CD to
> > do the imaging, then reboot the machine to use it again.
>
> Backups need to be 100% automatic or they are not done.  I used to do
> manual
> backups. After about 18 months, that slowed to monthly manual backups, then
> annual .... which is next to worthless.  The data far outgrew my ability
> to back
> it up, then a RAID0 set had 1 HDD fail.  I lost 80% of my data, due to my
> own
> foolishness.  These days, I don't add storage without adding backup
> storage too.
>
> > The end result is that my image backups don't get done too often,
> > particularly with 4 PC's.  So, if I could find a way to automatically
> clone
> > each PC's hard drive every night, or at least every week, and
> automatically
> > detach and shut down the backup media when done, and reattach it when the
> > next clone job is due, then I could be in a position to really not care
> too
> > much if a drive fails.  If I could get snapshot versions like JD has
> > mentioned elsewhere in this thread, so much the better.  My number one
> goal
> > for my backup is to enable me to restore a complete system, including all
> > data, all applications, and all settings, either within 15 minutes, or at
> > most within a few hours.
>
> For cloning PC OSes, check out partimage. It can write over the network,
> but
> because it does an image, it does need to be booted outside the normal OS.
> A
> 500MB partition just for imaging could make a lot of sense, rather than
> having a
> USB drive that needs to be moved around.  Data should be backed up more
> efficiently. IMHO. Images need to be minimal and only have a place for
> MS-Windows. On Linux, it simply is not necessary.  librsync is fantastic
> and
> most Linux-based backup tools use it.
>
> 30 minutes to image after booting a different OS
>  or
> 2 minutes to backup all the data while leaving the machine running.
> You can pick.
>
> Backup tools have come a long way in the last 2 years.  Duplicity (and the
> 10
> GUIs built on top of it) have brought the "best practices" to a home user.
>
> Bacula is impressive, but it is definitely an enterprise-class tool with
> enterprise-class complexity.
>
> BTW, I know that most of my backups work.  I've moved machines for about 7
> machines recently. Basically, I just did a backup, shutdown 1 box, brought
> up
> the other and restored.
>
> Isn't that how it should work?
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20130312/eecabec8/attachment-0001.html>