[ale] Hard Drive Failures

Wed Mar 13 07:41:07 EDT 2013

+1
Bacula rocks!
On Mar 12, 2013 6:49 PM, "Dow Hurst" <dphurst at uncg.edu> wrote:

> 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?
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>
>
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