Re: Using HDD as backup media

[Justin H Haynes <Justin_(_at_)_Haynes_(_dot_)_net>]

Forgot to mention - the support for file revisions, though "not feature 
complete" is supported in the respository.  So when it is complete, your 
old repository will still make old versions of files available.  You 
can more easily restore older versions of files when those features are 
complete in the client(s).


Justin H Haynes wrote:

> No backup and restore system is 100% reliable.  You just have to 
> define "acceptable loss".
>
> That said, one solution is boxbackup.  http://www.fluffy.co.uk/boxbackup:
> (If this is in the archives I'm sorry.  I certainly won't post it again.)
>
> - Native to OpenBSD
> - client/ server model with "lazy" mode backups that backup only 
> differences to files, so that larger files that change need not be 
> uploaded.  Like CVS.  Also supports versions, though not feature 
> complete.
> - public/private key authentication system for authenticating clients.
> - all communication is encrypted and compressed between server and 
> client, and
> - backup store is encrypted/ and compressed.
> - certificate authority can be offline and separate from client and 
> server
>
> This is beta software - not feature complete, but stable enough that 
> many people are actually using it in production environments, *with 
> caution*.
>
> I use it and find it useful.  you can run more than one client.  I am 
> getting more friends to participate so  that we can have multiple 
> servers.  We can then fhave clients backup to secondary and tertiary 
> backup servers.  That should be redundant enough for our purposes.
>
> -Justin
>
> Jurvis LaSalle wrote:
>
> > On Feb 22, 2005, at 9:56 PM, L. V. Lammert wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, 23 Feb 2005, Dave Harrison wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >
> > > > I'm interested in hearing if anyone has tried successfully or
> > > > unsuccessfully to use HDDs as backup media (in place of tapes).
> > > Works great, we do it all the time. Only one main issue - HDs are great
> > > for backups, but they do NOT work for 'version control' - i.e. 
> > > regresssing
> > > to older backups if needed.
> > >
> > > > The immediate problem that comes to mind is that HDDs are more fragile
> > > > than tapes and can lead to data loss more easily (although having each
> > > > backup written to two seperate disks [mirrored]) would alleviate 
> > > > this to
> > > > an extent.
> > > Quite frankly, the opposite is really the case (as long as the HDs are
> > > statically mounted, possibly offsite).
> > >
> > > Tapes have many more media problems.
> > >
> > >     Lee
> >
> > You want version control?  Is rsnapshot good enough granular enough?  
> > It's basically a set of nice scripts built around rsync.
> >
> > hth,
> > Jurvis LaSalle