[ale] Hard Drive Failures

[David Tomaschik]

FWIW, I currently use 3 tools for backups:

Plain rsync script to an external drive: most reliable chance of recovery
(seriously, "cp" will do the recovery), but requires attaching an external
drive.
duplicity to remote machine: Uses rsync algo to do incrementals, encrypts
using gpg, but will require duplicity to restore.  Completely automated.
CrashPlan: unlimited storage for multiple machines, but with a proprietary
client.  I tolerate this because it's the best option for my wife's Windows
laptop, syncs relatively often, and lets someone else manage the
infrastructure.  (And I know some people who vouch for their crypto, so I'm
pretty certain in the safety of it.)

At any given time, I have at least 2 backups less than 1 week old (usually
3) in 2 physically disparate locations.  Previous strong resilience against
software errors, hard drive failures, fire, and theft.  I haven't done a
restore drill with CrashPlan (bad me) but do regularly do so with the
rsync.  (In fact, that's how I upgraded my hard drive last time. -- Install
new drive, restore from backup.)


On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 3:16 PM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

> I'm with these guys.
>
> I was looking at the backup options again and there are many more now that
> do
> all the right things and seem to do them really well, at least if you look
> in
> Synaptic (software center seems to be a joke to me).
>
> I am still using rdiff-backup, but some recent failures that I've been
> unable to
> resolve on a desktop have me looking for a alternative. It has been working
> almost perfectly on 10+ servers almost 5 yrs besides that.
>
> If you are using rsync alone and getting mirrors, you are missing out on
> some of
> the best parts of backups - versions. It is possible to use hardlinks and
> rsync
> to get versioned backups, but those are not as efficient as rdiff-backup on
> storage. Just sayin.
>
> For every 1,000 backups, are you certain that you can restore at 3am after
> a
> night of drinking? If not, your restore process is too complex.  If it
> takes a
> month to get your data back, is that acceptable too? Online backups are
> not all
> they seem to be for large amounts of data.
>
> BTW, I was about to get sucked into the other thread too.  I've found my
> happy
> place and will not post there.  Thanks David for keeping me out of that!
>
> -jd
>
> On 02/21/2013 05:14 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> > +1e1M
> > Don't worry about drive failure. Just be competent at restores from solid
> > backups. Bit rot on tape is unmeasurably small compared to drive failure
> rates.
> > If it matters, back it up. If you're not backing it up, it doesn't
> matter.
> >
> > On Feb 21, 2013 5:05 PM, "David Tomaschik" <david at systemoverlord.com
> > <mailto:david at systemoverlord.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     So, I was going to let myself be sucked into Ron and dev null's
> debate on
> >     the other thread, but decided better of it.  While I am no Steve
> Gibson fan
> >     (in fact, I believe his products and advice are only slightly better
> than
> >     snake oil) I'm going to steer clear of that and head for the central
> topic:
> >     there are a *lot* of threads on this mailing list about drives
> failing; and
> >     no, I'm not suggesting there's an epidemic of drive deaths, just
> that people
> >     are approaching it the wrong way.
> >
> >     If you care (aside from replacement time and cost) about a single
> hard drive
> >     (rotational or SSD) failing: you are doing it wrong.  Plain and
> simple.
> >
> >     Backups are the solution to hard drive failures, not ddrescue,
> spinrite, or
> >     snake oil.  Pick any one hard drive in my place and destroy it.
>  Other than
> >     buying and installing a new hard drive, I won't lose much sleep over
> that.
> >      I might lose a little bit of data, but not enough that I'll be
> struggling
> >     with ddrescue over it.
> >
> >     JD and I once did a presentation at ALE-NW about backup solutions.
>  There
> >     are many out there: commercial and open source, local and remote,
> network or
> >     disk-to-disk, etc.  Pick one (or be like me and pick several) and
> use them.
> >      Then enjoy the zen of treating hard drives as the commodities they
> are, as
> >     opposed to the heart of your electronic world.
> >
> >     (FYI, this all comes from a couple of painful experiences before I
> >     was enlightened to the path of the backup.)
> >
> >     --
> >     David Tomaschik
> >     OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B
> >     http://systemoverlord.com
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-- 
David Tomaschik
OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B
http://systemoverlord.com
david at systemoverlord.com
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