Re: Tape drive (IDE)

[Matt Penna <mdp1261_(_at_)_rit_(_dot_)_edu>]

At 11:51 AM 8/4/01 +0800, you wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Nicholas Janzen" <nj_(_at_)_third-net_(_dot_)_com>
> To: <misc_(_at_)_openbsd_(_dot_)_org>
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 12:20 PM
> Subject: Tape drive (IDE)
>
>
> > Are there any inexpensive tape drives for IDE that work well with OpenBSD?
>
> A second HDD!

Larry,

I'm not trying to put down your suggestion, but I want to raise a few 
points that the original poster (Nicholas) might not have thought about.

Adding a second hard drive will protect you from some forms of equipment 
failure but, in my opinion, it is not a very effective method of backup.

I'll use my own experience as an example: I had about 15 systems running 
for various purposes. We had a severe thunderstorm one day and lightning 
directly struck the house. It blew out quite a bit of equipment - hard 
disks, system boards, power supplies, network hubs, switches, NICs, etc. 
(Just determining what equipment went bad was a huge chore! I quickly 
invested in UPSes and lightning arrestors for the entire network after that 
happened, but that's another story.)

If, in this situation, I was only using an additional hard disk to back up 
my data, chances are good that both of them would have been blown away and 
I would never have seen my data again. What saved me was tape backup - 
obviously the tapes aren't affected by power problems.

My backups are not something that I want to have to worry about once the 
procedure is put in place and verified to be working (and subsequently 
checked to verify that it continues to work). I want to put the tape in and 
run the backup, never having to worry if my data is safe. Second hard disks 
do not provide this level of assurance.

Nicholas didn't really give details as to what he would be backing up (or 
even if it was for his own use). If you just want a second hard disk to cut 
the time it takes to get the system back up in case your first disk fails 
(and you're not storing important files), that's probably okay. But if you 
have data that's irreplaceable, use tapes.

Data backup is yet another example of how no one can decide what is best 
for your situation except you. If you back up to tape and store the media 
in the room with the server, you're protected from equipment failure.

But suppose your office burns down. Moral of the story, store your media in 
a fireproof cabinet specifically designed for magnetic storage media.

But suppose the city water main breaks or there's a hurricane and your 
office is submerged in 8 feet of water. Moral of the story, store some of 
your backup media off-site.

But suppose there's a nuclear attack and the entire city is leveled. Moral 
of the story, store your media in a carefully selected/constructed 
underground cavern. This sounds really ludicrous, but large companies spend 
hundreds of millions of dollars each year to prepare for just such an 
event! So rest assured, in the event of armageddon, you will still be able 
to order CD's from Amazon and drink Coca-Cola... :P

So, it's up to you to decide what you need. As a previous thread on disk 
partitioning pointed out, what you should do on your system depends 
entirely on your usage habits and the demands of your particular situation.

Disagreement is welcome. (It does make for the best discussions, after all. :)

        Matt


--
Matt Penna        soba_(_at_)_usagiyojimbo_(_dot_)_com        mdp1261_(_at_)_rit_(_dot_)_edu
ICQ: 399825                                     S0ba on AOLIM
        "The trouble with computers, of course, is
        that they're very sophisticated idiots." -Dr. Who