[lug] Backup

[Bear Giles]

Daniel Webb wrote:
> I finished my web page on my attempt at a cheap but very robust backup
> strategy for a home Linux system, I'd like some criticism of it.  Especially
> interesting to me would be any worst-case scenarios I'm overlooking, even
> far-fetched ones.  
> 
> http://danielwebb.us/software/backup/

1) on-site storage needs to be fire-resistant.  Smoke and steam are your 
enemy and even a very small fire can destroy media both directly and by 
coating it with gunk that will foul your drive.

I've heard that the best on-site solution is to put the media (in 
paper?) inside nested ziplock bags inside a safe/lock box -- but not a 
"fire safe!"  Nest the ziplock bags so the inner one faces the opposite 
direction from the outer one - that reduces the cross-contamination when 
you remove the former.  Costco has gallon-size ziplock bags so one could 
hold several quart-size bags.

A "fire safe" should never be used with media.  It works by having a 
layer with something that absorbs heat... but throws off steam.  That's 
not a problem for paper, it's death to media.  You would need a much 
more expensive "media safe".

2) off-site storage.

3) CD and DVD reliability.  There was a discussion a month or two ago. 
You want specific brands, and not necessarily the "brand names" you 
would expect.  Grab some in a local store and they may be great for 
ripping CDs, but they'll have a 50% mortality within a year.

I hate to be Tummy's sales department but a "blank page" resource is a 
virtual server with them.  For $25/month you can rdiff-backup your 
important files to reliable off-site storage.  Hmmm, I should probably 
start doing that with my critical files....

Bear