[Marked OT, since not specially related to OpenBSD]
On Fri, Dec 23, 2005 at 01:18:07PM -0700, Whyzzi wrote:
> Interesting idea, and have to admit I didn't think of it. There is a
> second HD ide hard drive slaved in the mail server, as well. I could
> use the likes of DD or dump/restore onto the second drive (slave).
[...]
> As for the cost of DVD+/-RW media, you'd be surprised at you can find.
IMHO, neither a second HD nor something as unreliable as DVD or CD
make a good backup medium -- it just may save you some time compared
to install and configure a new system using the official install
CD set.
If you have sensitive/important *data* on your system, you *want*
to backup on media that are *designed* for backup and archiving
*and* allow for removal (i.e. no HDs).
> We bought Verbatim DVD-RW media @ 1.49$ Canadian each. I had also
> found a 5pack of some unknown brand (not R-DATA) being dumped at our
> local Staples for under $9cdn which I purchased for home use.
Test them. Put the same data on as much as you can afford for testing
purposes. Do this with media from different vendors, or with media
from the *same* vendor bought at different times. Keep those backups
for a few months and then check how much of them are still readable.
My experience with CDs is *really* bad, and whenever I talk with
friends about DVDs, they tell that DVD are even worse.
Two main reasons *against* CDs (and probably DVDs):
- Media are very sensible wrt environmental conditions.
- If the drive used for burning the media starts to die (because of dust
or just aging), the medium tends to be readable for some days or
weeks before you get immediate errors during the backup or a
verify-read after the backup. With tape streamers, I never had
this problem, i.e. if the verify was o.k., then was the data on
the tape, and I could read the very last tape written with a
streamer years after that streamer died (using a backwards
compatible device). And this was with DDS devices, which AFAIK
are still considered cheap-ware (if not crap).
Ciao,
Kili
--
Aus Sicht der Daten sind Menschen komische Leute.
