In addition to the other reasons for offsite backup, let me add break-ins. Mush more likely than a fire. Within two minutes your computers can all be gone.
I doubt any statistics on disk failures. I've had two backup disks and an internal disk fail in the last year. Two of the failures were on the same computer which was powered down for two months while we were gone. Offsite storage saved us. Ed __________ Ed Angel Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab) Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico 1017 Sierra Pinon Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-984-0136 (home) an...@cs.unm.edu 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel On Apr 8, 2013, at 3:08 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > Doug - > > Apropos of your *original* point/question.... > > A Time Machine (unless it is offsite) doesn't solve the offsite problem. > > The overwrite problem doesn't solve *my* main problem which is NOT > catastrophic failure but operator error... perhaps one of the options you > mention in rsync, in fact solves it... though somehow I suspect it is > designed for *competent* people, not the rest of us. > > As for backups of backups, belts AND suspenders? I like the Masahide (often > attributed to his teacher, Basho) quote: > > "Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon" > > Of course, don't expect me to be so philosophical next time my hard drive (or > worse, my Time Machine? or my house) burns down... but it has a nice ring > doesn't it? Better than "don't play with matches!" > > I also have to thank our own Morgan Thomas (on Discuss if not FRIAM) who uses > this often as her own tagline. And for good reason. > > - Steve > > >> It will overwrite files with the same name. You can set with a parameter >> whether it will do a mirror-like sync or to instead leave files that have >> been deleted on source directory on the backup directory. To delete >> extraneous files on the destination directory use the --del parameter. >> >> --Doug >> >> On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 2:07 PM, Barry MacKichan >> <barry.mackic...@mackichan.com> wrote: >> No, the odds have gotten me. I am assuming that rsync overwrites past >> history, so it saves less than a time machine. Is that correct? >> >> On Apr 8, 2013, at 1:44 PM, Douglas Roberts <d...@parrot-farm.net> wrote: >> >>> Did I fail to mention that I keep backups of my backups? I did, didn't I... >>> >>> I am not paranoid, the odds are out to get you. >>> >>> --Doug >>> >>> On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 1:35 PM, Barry MacKichan >>> <barry.mackic...@mackichan.com> wrote: >>> 1. Is your 3TB drive off-site? Offsite backup is the problem to be solved, >>> IMHO. >>> 2. I imagine that the probability that your 3TB drive will be alive and >>> functional in a year is less than 99.999999999% (not that I fully believe >>> Amazon's claims, but they do monitor their disks and move the data when the >>> error rate hits a certain threshold). >>> 3. If my data is off-site, I want it encrypted. I'm not sure how to do that >>> with rsync. We do use rsync nightly, however, to update our CTAN mirror. >>> >>> --Barry >>> >>> >>> On Apr 8, 2013, at 12:26 PM, Douglas Roberts <d...@parrot-farm.net> wrote: >>> >>>> Just curious why you Mac guys are buying backup systems, when there is a >>>> perfectly good way to use rsync. Here's my nightly backup script, which >>>> currently sends my nightly incrementals to a cheap 3TB USB3 external drive: >>>> >>>> #!/bin/bash >>>> >>>> # Just in case they are not mounted >>>> /bin/mount /mnt/3TB >&/dev/null >>>> /bin/mount /mnt/Movies >&/dev/null >>>> /bin/mount /mnt/Video >&/dev/null >>>> >>>> >>>> # >>>> #/home/roberts >>>> # >>>> echo "Starting /home/roberts backup" >>/home/roberts/backup2.log >>>> date >>/home/roberts/backup2.log >>>> >>>> /usr/bin/rsync -vurltD --exclude-from=/home/roberts/.rsync/exclude >>>> /home/roberts /mnt/3TB >>/home/roberts/backup2.log 2>&1 >>>> >>>> >>>> echo "Completed /home/roberts backup" >>/home/roberts/backup2.log >>>> date >>/home/roberts/backup2.log >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: >>>> My $.02 on Time Machine. >>>> >>>> I bought a 2TB time machine about 4? years ago and set up two MB Pro's >>>> with it. Other than a little irritation from accidental reboots on the >>>> device (connected to the same power strip as my flakey motorola internet >>>> service, yielding a reboot via powerstrip toggle sometimes), I've had >>>> nothing but good look. >>>> >>>> I've only had one occasion to do a full restore in an emergency and it >>>> worked like a charm.. I *have* used it to migrate between MB Pros and an >>>> iMac about 5 or 6 times in the same period. That has worked flawlessly as >>>> well. >>>> >>>> It might be prudent to back that up somewhere offsite, but I'm just not >>>> that prudent and now am spoiled to my regular "backup" and potential >>>> "restores" being almost entirely invisible to me. I can't tell from the >>>> discussion on the list how "transparent" the true cloud services are, >>>> unfortunately I'm pretty sure my totally lame internet would make >>>> *restore* a long and painful experience. >>>> >>>> >>>> - Steve >>>>> I have one data point. One of our Macs near Seattle had a drive fail, so >>>>> I had an employee take it to an Apple store. The 'genius' was very happy >>>>> when he saw the Time Machine, and, I think, nothing was lost. >>>>> >>>>> About the depth of cloud backups: I now use Arq on the Mac. The backups >>>>> are in Amazon's S3, and the frequency is settable: I have one done every >>>>> hour. You set a limit on how much space you want to use -- just as a Time >>>>> Machine has a fixed size -- and once you hit that limit, it will >>>>> overwrite the oldest versions as necessary. Also the paid version of >>>>> DropBox keeps at least some >>>>> history. For saving a Time Machine offsite, Amazons Glacier >>>>> storage is one cent a gigabyte per month, so your 150 gigabytes would be >>>>> $18 per year. They really hit you with transfer charges if you try to >>>>> read a large amount in a short time, but since that presumably happens >>>>> only when your Mac and your time machine have both been roasted in a >>>>> fire, you probably will be happy to pay them. Unfortunately 150 gigs is >>>>> not enough for most time machines. >>>>> >>>>> --Barry >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Apr 6, 2013, at 8:42 AM, "Robert J. Cordingley" >>>>> <rob...@cirrillian.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> So has anyone successfully restored an entire system from the Cloud (or >>>>>> a Time Machine come to think of it)? How easy was it? Any statistics >>>>>> on success rate? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ============================================================ >>>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> >>>> >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Doug Roberts >>>> d...@parrot-farm.net >>>> http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins >>>> >>>> 505-455-7333 - Office >>>> 505-672-8213 - Mobile >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Doug Roberts >>> d...@parrot-farm.net >>> http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins >>> >>> 505-455-7333 - Office >>> 505-672-8213 - Mobile >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> >> -- >> Doug Roberts >> d...@parrot-farm.net >> http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins >> >> 505-455-7333 - Office >> 505-672-8213 - Mobile >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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