Looking for research/information on backup systems for my Linux system

[Barry L. Bond]

Greetings!

I'm about to start researching to determine the best backup solution
for my home systems. (I am not a business. I have one Linux-based and
one Solaris computer, and it needs to be as inexpensive as possible, but
reliable!) :-)

Since the 1980s I've used, and loved, tape backup. Perhaps it's just
this backup I have now that makes me wonder. I have a Travan drive on my
Linux system. I have had trouble with it. I've had to ship it back to
the manufacturer a couple of times, and I've purchased a new drive, TR5
instead of TR4, which means all those (expensive) tapes need to be
replaced...

Something in me still prefers tape backup. (And, again, I've been
happy with tape backups since the 1980s.)

I'm aware that there are CD-RW backups, but I don't (yet) know much
about them. I believe you can re-write to the CD multiple times? (I just
don't think much about writing to a CD, and then, the older it gets, and
the more out-of-date this backup becomes, there is nothing to do but throw
it away.)

And then, disk backups. I would presume that some Linux people are
using disks for backups. The speed of access would be an advantage, but I
don't need backups often. I don't mind going through the tape looking for
the file(s) I need.

Can someone help me, or point me to, a reference for the cost of
these three (and more if there are more of which I'm not at the moment
aware) backup systems?

(I'm also about to install a newer version of Linux, because my
libraries are getting so old, too. More and more in the last year or so,
when I try to install something new, I needed to update libraries, and the
time is getting more than I have for my home systems.)

I would appreciate whatever help you can offer!

Thank you!

Barry

[Tony Lawrence]

Post by Barry L. Bond
Greetings!
I'm about to start researching to determine the best backup solution
for my home systems. (I am not a business. I have one Linux-based and
one Solaris computer, and it needs to be as inexpensive as possible, but
reliable!) :-)

In recent years, I've been using DVD-RAM for small systems and IOMEGA
REV drives for larger storage. Both are reasonably inexpensive. I
have some stuff tucked away:

http://www.aplawrence.com/Reviews/dvdram.html

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-25-2004/0002181278&EDATE=
(DVD-RAM reliability)


http://www.aplawrence.com/Linux/iomegafedoracore2.html (REV w/ Fedora
core 2)
http://www.aplawrence.com/Blog/B1231.html (Speed of REV)

I use a commercial backup product (http://microlite.com) with both of
these on Linux.

[Barry L. Bond]

Hi Tony!

Thank you SO MUCH for your help! I will (soon) look at the URLs you
provided. Thank you for being so generous!

God bless you!

Barry

[Moe Trin]

In the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.admin, in article

Post by Barry L. Bond
I'm about to start researching to determine the best backup solution
for my home systems. (I am not a business. I have one Linux-based and
one Solaris computer, and it needs to be as inexpensive as possible, but
reliable!) :-)

The Sloaris box - is that x86, or one of the many Sparc designs?

Post by Barry L. Bond
Since the 1980s I've used, and loved, tape backup. Perhaps it's just
this backup I have now that makes me wonder. I have a Travan drive on my
Linux system. I have had trouble with it.

I'd bet if you did a search on groups.google.com, you'd find "tape backup
problem" as keywords gives a million or more hits. ;-)

Post by Barry L. Bond
Something in me still prefers tape backup. (And, again, I've been
happy with tape backups since the 1980s.)

That _does_ have the advantage of easily being able to store the media
off site, which might be a disaster scenario.

Post by Barry L. Bond
I'm aware that there are CD-RW backups, but I don't (yet) know much
about them. I believe you can re-write to the CD multiple times?

Yes, but you are limited in capacity per media.

Post by Barry L. Bond
(I just don't think much about writing to a CD, and then, the older it
gets, and the more out-of-date this backup becomes, there is nothing to
do but throw it away.)

CDs can be cheap, and the drives aren't that expensive. But even your
tapes only have a limited life, and are (as you note) expensive to replace
and/or maintain.

Post by Barry L. Bond
And then, disk backups. I would presume that some Linux people are using
disks for backups. The speed of access would be an advantage, but I don't
need backups often. I don't mind going through the tape looking for the
file(s) I need.

Depends on the disaster scenario you are protecting against. Disks are
comparatively cheap, and you can get 'removable' drives (though the
life is now predicated on insertion/removal cycles). The technique I'm
using at home is to install an extra disk in several computers, and
simply pour the bits from one computer to the 'backup' disk on the
other. Because I'm using a common installation on all systems, I need
not back that up, and only have to back up the "data". For long term
off-site storage, I cut a CD, and keep that in a different county.

For your Linux/Sol setup, I'd suggest putting an extra drive in each, and
using rsync or similar to keep the extra drive as a mirror of the primary
drive in the "other" computer.

Old guy

[Barry L. Bond]

Hi Moe!

Post by Moe Trin
The Sloaris box - is that x86, or one of the many Sparc designs?

It is an Ultra 30. :-) One of the many!

Post by Moe Trin
I'd bet if you did a search on groups.google.com, you'd find "tape backup
problem" as keywords gives a million or more hits. ;-)

Perhaps I was just lucky. But I've had really NO problems with tape
backups until this Travan drive on my Linux system! (I've always done
backups frequently enough, and I've always been able to restore from them,
fortunately INfrequently!) :-)

Post by Moe Trin
Depends on the disaster scenario you are protecting against. Disks are
comparatively cheap, and you can get 'removable' drives (though the
life is now predicated on insertion/removal cycles). The technique I'm
using at home is to install an extra disk in several computers, and
simply pour the bits from one computer to the 'backup' disk on the
other. Because I'm using a common installation on all systems, I need
not back that up, and only have to back up the "data". For long term
off-site storage, I cut a CD, and keep that in a different county.
For your Linux/Sol setup, I'd suggest putting an extra drive in each, and
using rsync or similar to keep the extra drive as a mirror of the primary
drive in the "other" computer.

Thank you. It is a new consideration. I hadn't thought of it, but
it isn't a bad idea.

I'll consider it! Thank you VERY MUCH for your kind assistance!

God bless you!

Barry

[Tony Lawrence]

Post by Barry L. Bond
Hi Moe!

Post by Moe Trin
The Sloaris box - is that x86, or one of the many Sparc designs?

It is an Ultra 30. :-) One of the many!

Post by Moe Trin
I'd bet if you did a search on groups.google.com, you'd find "tape backup
problem" as keywords gives a million or more hits. ;-)

Perhaps I was just lucky. But I've had really NO problems with tape
backups until this Travan drive on my Linux system! (I've always done
backups frequently enough, and I've always been able to restore from them,
fortunately INfrequently!) :-)

Travan is cheap junk. I strongly encourage not using these for anything
important.

Post by Barry L. Bond

Post by Moe Trin
For your Linux/Sol setup, I'd suggest putting an extra drive in each, and
using rsync or similar to keep the extra drive as a mirror of the primary
drive in the "other" computer.

Thank you. It is a new consideration. I hadn't thought of it, but
it isn't a bad idea.

Actually, it IS a bad idea. It's a great idea as PART of a backup
strategy, but appallingly lousy if it is the only thing used. Backup
needs to be removable and use inexpensive media so that it can be
arbitrarily deep (reaching back in time) and so that it can be easily
moved off site to guard against physical disasters.

Post by Barry L. Bond
I'll consider it! Thank you VERY MUCH for your kind assistance!
God bless you!

Why do you feel it necessary to spread your religious beliefs with every
post? I find it quite offensive. Not everyone shares your belief
systems. I don't urge secular humanism on you when I offer assistance,
do I? Why? Because it would be rude and presumptuous to do so:
whatever nonsense you choose to believe is entirely YOUR business and I
feel no need to involve you in my own. I wish you would observe the
same courtesy.

[Moe Trin]

In the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.admin, in article

Post by Barry L. Bond

Post by Moe Trin
The Sloaris box - is that x86, or one of the many Sparc designs?

It is an Ultra 30. :-) One of the many!

The reason I was asking was that Sun had a special partitioning scheme
that was not as obvious as setting up a drive on a Linux box

Post by Barry L. Bond
Perhaps I was just lucky. But I've had really NO problems with tape
backups until this Travan drive on my Linux system! (I've always done
backups frequently enough, and I've always been able to restore from them,
fortunately INfrequently!) :-)

In a previous existence, I was a tape monkey with a lot of 8 mm Exabyte
drives to support. I grew to hate those suckers.

Post by Barry L. Bond

Post by Moe Trin
For your Linux/Sol setup, I'd suggest putting an extra drive in each, and
using rsync or similar to keep the extra drive as a mirror of the primary
drive in the "other" computer.

Thank you. It is a new consideration. I hadn't thought of it, but
it isn't a bad idea.

rsync is an excellent package for this. Originally, we had a massive
script that compared file size and timestamps, which was cumbersome.
Note that it doesn't handle all scenerios, which is why I still use
the 'burn to a CD' and store that in a different county mode.

Old guy