MartyConnelly
martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Wed Dec 31 12:14:45 CST 2003
Another method is a Ghost Image Backup to a portable BackPack 60 Gig drive via a USB 2 port. You would have to restore to original machine I think but would handle a drive failure. Cost about $300 for drive and Software. Dan Waters wrote: >Drew and William, > >Thanks for the training! > >There was a lot more to this than I had guessed. What I do now is simply >backup selected data files to a CD every 3 days using Disk-to-Disk. So, if >my HD did crash I would still have critical files but my recovery time could >be a few days - so having a mirrored HD that would let me 'keep on truckin' >would be pretty handy! > >Thanks for all this information, >Dan > >-----Original Message----- >From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com >[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of William Hindman >Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 9:02 PM >To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues >Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Opinions please > > >Dan > >...assumes you have a MB which supports RAID which more and more do these >days (one of the reasons I still build my own) ...or you buy mirroring >software or a RAID card neither of which I've used except on servers ...its >a physical duplication of your master drive onto a slave as every write >occurs ...you pay a performance price for the second access and write of >course but its marginalized by the RAID read speedup ...and with a current >processor you won't notice it anyway. > >...as Drew noted, its physical protection only since software corruptions >would occur on both ...but still, its cheap and once in play you hardly >realize its there doing its thing in the background ...if you've ever had a >HD crash, a mirror is a godsend since the hardware automatically defaults to >using the mirror and you just get a warning pop-up ...life and work go on >and you have time to address the problem at your convenience. > >...since I now use XP Pro only and have System Restore automated, I don't >sweat the system software corruption problems ...but make damn sure your >System Restore is really working by actually testing it ...XP can be >misleading in the setup and leave you unprotected ...but it does work quite >well ...a recent bug in a Symantec auto-update kept giving me blue screens >...I stepped back through the restore points until they went away. > >...I also use the built-in Backup scheduling facility to automate protecting >my critical data files ...its there, easy to use, and disk space is cheap >...I do it to a directory on the mirrored drive since that covers me both >ways from Sunday. > >...a bit more trouble but the ultimate failsafe is "imaging" the data onto a >3rd HD using Drive Image which is cheap (I don't like Norton Ghost) ...when >you initially set this up, make sure the image drive is on a separate cable >and, after doing the first image, swap your bios boot sequence to that drive >and boot from it using the image ...then swap your bios back ...from that >point on, assuming your bios doesn't fail, you have the best of all worlds >...a mirrored HD that takes over immediately if the master HD fails, a bu of >your critical data that can be restored selectively, and a full software >image available with a simple bios change if all else fails ...this of >course doesn't address off-site storage but I don't worry about that anyway >...since I have fire sprinklers and only a hurricane could do the place in >...my computers are on my evac list right after Lai and the pets. > >...needless to say I didn't do this overnight ...its evolved over time ...if >you really want the best info available on securing your data, I use >www.langa.com as my bible ...his archives have really solid info and he >gives you all of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly ...HTH :) > >William Hindman ><http://www.freestateproject.org> - Next Year In The Free State! > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Dan Waters" <dwaters at usinternet.com> >To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'" ><dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com> >Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 6:41 PM >Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Opinions please > > > > >>William, >> >>Can you talk a little more about a mirrored hard drive for backup? >> >>Thanks, >>Dan Waters >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com >>[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of William >> >> >Hindman > > >>Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 4:04 PM >>To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues >>Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Opinions please >> >> >>...not a file server :( >> >>...mirrored HD costs less, is more reliable, and incomparably faster >>than on-line bu :( >> >>William Hindman >><http://www.freestateproject.org> - Next Year In The Free State! >> >> >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "KathrynAtGwens" <kathrynatgwens at socal.rr.com> >>To: <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com> >>Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 3:02 PM >>Subject: [dba-Tech] Opinions please >> >> >> >> >>>Gwen's son is going to fix her up with a new data server, and >>>offsite >>> >>> >>backup. Here's what he has in mind. Any issues that you know of? >> >> >>>A much simplified file server >>>http://www.snapappliance.com/page.cfm?name=2200Main&nav=2200 >>> >>>Online backup >>>http://www.connected.com/solution/Home_User/Home_Getting_Started.asp >>> >>> >>>-- >>>Kathryn Bassett (at work address) kathrynatgwens at socal.rr.com >>>kathryn at bassett.net (home) >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>dba-Tech mailing list >>>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >>>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >>>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >>> >>> >>> >>_______________________________________________ >>dba-Tech mailing list >>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>dba-Tech mailing list >>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> >> >> > > >_______________________________________________ >dba-Tech mailing list >dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > >_______________________________________________ >dba-Tech mailing list >dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > -- Marty Connelly Victoria, B.C. Canada