Clara ([info]anotherthink) wrote,
@ 2007-12-23 17:08:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Does anyone have any (convenient, inexpensive) suggestions for data backup?

My desktop now has 100G+ of data that I would be sad if it got lost. Backups are a good idea in general, plus I've decided I want to switch Linux distributions and don't want to worry too hard about accidentally wiping my data partition.

(Post a new comment)


[info]cruft
2007-12-24 12:50 am UTC (link)
For backing up fewer than 500 G, a big fat external drive seems the most convenient, if you can afford one.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]sbisaac
2007-12-24 03:01 am UTC (link)
How would you back up more than 500 GB?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]cruft
2007-12-24 04:22 am UTC (link)
Well, hard drives do get as big as a terabyte now, so for personal use I guess an external drive would continue to make sense up to 1 TB. Bigger than that, tape.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]joaniechachi
2007-12-24 05:14 am UTC (link)
Also, many (most?) external drives can be daisy-chained together for a higher capacity.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]cruft
2007-12-24 09:18 am UTC (link)
Yeah, or you can daisy-chain and RAID-5 three. Yay storage.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]sbisaac
2007-12-24 03:56 pm UTC (link)
I am really leery of using hard drives to back up data, but I'm using one to back up my music collection. Tape is really expensive! I back up documents by using my university accounts.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]joaniechachi
2007-12-24 05:13 am UTC (link)
Or there is the Drobo. (Yitz and I share one because we are enormously dorky.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]anotherthink
2007-12-24 03:02 am UTC (link)
true; although I'm somewhat leery of the idea that the backup would occupy the same physical apartment as the original and thus both would be subject to the same fire/thieves/whatever. but, if it were stored remotely by some company, I'd be dependent on their stability. all data is ultimately fleeting!
I will look into external drives.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]thetathx1138
2007-12-24 04:06 am UTC (link)
The best thing to do is just buy a drive, buy an enclosure, and build it yourself. Cheaper than getting it prebuilt, and you can slam together several.

You could also backup on DVDs and keep them in a fireproof box.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]sbisaac
2007-12-24 03:59 pm UTC (link)
How long do DVD-R's last once you've written to them?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]thetathx1138
2007-12-24 09:54 pm UTC (link)
I think the upper limit is 100 years before they start to degrade. Either way, we're talking a few decades. Not ideal for, say, industrial data storage but a useful consumer measure.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]cruft
2007-12-24 04:24 am UTC (link)
It's hard to imagine Moomers refusing to plug your drive into catch.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]hydrobromic
2007-12-25 04:35 am UTC (link)
indeed. that *is* hard to imagine.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]vahkvahk
2007-12-28 01:06 am UTC (link)
Moomers might object to 100gb of data streaming over its weak DSL link, though!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]derloos
2007-12-24 10:16 am UTC (link)
Sad that you need an inexpensive solution... Recently I had a chance to see how better is the tape over any other way :-(

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…