[rescue] Backups

[Mike Parson]

On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 11:05:13AM -0500, Mike Hebel wrote:
> Someone generated the quantum flux that came across as... Geoffrey S.
> Mendelson
>>>On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 10:11:51AM -0500, Mike Hebel wrote:
>>> I've tried it once and I've had friends try it at other times.
>>> Neither one of us could get it to work more than once or twice.  The
>>> biggest issue was obviously buffer underruns.  Tried it with Nero
>>> and Roxio both.  I don't think the technology is there yet.
>>
>> Any DVD burner made since fall of 2004 will have some sort of buffer
>> underrun prevention. CD's have had it since 2002.

<various bits about coastering deleted>

> Your experiences may be different but I personally do not consider
> DVD-R/CD-R to be a good backup solution.  They're slower than a
> properly configured tape drive and on top of that the media only lasts
> ten years or so per current technology research.  I know people that
> have DLTs and DEC style tape that is still good after more than a
> decade - and will probably still be good a decade later.

I got my DVD burner in October of '03, burned probably about 100 or so
DVDs with it, coastered my first one (my fault), and one since then,
dunno why, box was idle 'cept for the burn, buffer underrun.

I write my backups based on why I'm backing it up.  Backups for restore
only need to last until you need to restore, or till the next full, plus
a couple cylces worth for the oopses.

Archival backups are something else.  Scanned photos, offline email,
etc, need to be put on reliable media and have multiple copies, in
multiple storage locations.  I'd also verify/refresh those backups
periodically.

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson at bl.org