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sbisson ([personal profile] sbisson) wrote2003-05-11 10:30 am
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Thank goodness for Firewire

My desktop PC's data disk is dying - so I'm updating everything on it to my firewire backup disk (including the stuff I don't normally backup).

Proabbaly time to rethink just how I use this machine. I'm considering dropping it down to a single disk system, but with a much bigger drive. Following a suggestion from [livejournal.com profile] jonhoneyball, I'll be running scheduled backups to two firewire drives - and (as [livejournal.com profile] ramtops suggests) handing one to a friend when we go on holiday (or sticking it in the car when we're away in the UK).

I have to remember - this PC is my whole livelihood now. And I need to treat it as being that important.

And there are things on it which may not be work, but are still important to me. So I need to back them up as well.
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MAC OSX can do it automagically...

[identity profile] tanais.livejournal.com 2003-05-12 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
My G3 desktop has a 120Gb RAID. I'm thinking of a firewire drive and network backing up -- need to do the math to see if its going to be too much cloggage over 802.11b but generally speaking RAID is "A Good Thing" and highly highly recommended especially when you are working with Gig-sized files like I used to do...

WIll you have a writing machine and a sacrificial machine? One that you can scrub and reinstall at a moments notice in order to review products with a clean installation? In those cases I used to find a removeable IDE was actually a better bet than a partitioned machine as you can have several different installations on the go - slot in a drive and away you go.

I really want an iBook or a Tibook though... I'm about to start work on my office and I dunno when it will be finished so I'm hoping to take a laptop and escape with it to places far and exotic...

Re: So can Windows NT/2000/XP

[identity profile] lostcarpark.livejournal.com 2003-05-12 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Windows NT has had support for software RAID since it's inception over ten years ago. However because it had to boot up first, if couldn't apply to the system drive. Software RAID cards use the processor to provide RAID 0/1, but because the software is in ROM, they can apply to the system drive, which means you can have an easy duplicate of your whole PC. Many motherboards now have this functionality built in.

By the way, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing. I'm talking about having two hard drives in the same PC, which means that if one fails the other has a complete copy of everything.

Automatic backup over network is also a great idea. I'm not sure if Windows has this built in. It should work fine over 802.11B, though if you're working with Gigabyte files, they'd quite a few minutes to transfer. It could be worth moving to 802.11G which would make it a bit faster, or even Gigabit Ethernet if you want them to copy in real time.

Re: So can Windows NT/2000/XP

[identity profile] tanais.livejournal.com 2003-05-12 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
>By the way, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing. I'm talking about having two hard drives in the same PC,
>which means that if one fails the other has a complete copy of everything

I wasn't sure if Simon was using that OS seeing as he had a TiBook last time I was there...

Yes generally that is how RAID is defined. Two Identical drives can be twinned and then setup as a RAID array. I dunno if its a function of the fast IDE card that came inside the G3 whn I got it but when I saw it and it cam as an option at OS install I though "aha" and went for it.

I'd time the backups to do it overnight. Thankkfully I no longer need to work with Gb files anymore and will never every go back to that sort of work again and reckon 802.11b will cope with our home network.

Its exhilarating dragging 120Gb of work into the trash where it will be lost forever after I erase the data and format (a particularly crap client's deadline for CDR backups of templates and back issues of a Magazine ended a few days ago). I almost hope they will call me to ask if I can supply them with backups so I can laugh at them...

Re: So can Windows NT/2000/XP

[identity profile] lostcarpark.livejournal.com 2003-05-12 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
If I was working with those volumes of data, I'd invest in a hardware RAID card and probably put six 120GB drives with one for striping and one spare on standby, giving me 480GB of space available (RAID 5).

Windows 2003 Server has a rather cool sounding option that you can tell it to keep previous versions of every file, so if you accidently erase or overwrite a file, you can get it back. Previously you'd have to go looking for your backups (or call the network administrator and try and sweet talk them into restoring it for you). Now you can just right-click and restore previous version, and the OS will say "which previous version would sir like?" Of course, this is all in theory. I haven't tried it, but that's the way I'd like it to work in practice. And I'd like it to be available on the desktop versions.

Re: So can Windows NT/2000/XP

[identity profile] tanais.livejournal.com 2003-05-12 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
those big old photoshop files, scans, backups ot altered images plus quark files and uncompressed pdfs at 2400dpi really eat into your hdd space but i'm glad i'm back just jockeying word. If my hardware reflected my usage I'd probably be using a speak and spell these days. Or rather I feel like I have a really flash car solly being used to do the grocery run...

yeah time to sell this thing and get me a laptop. Easier when I'm having a gimp day
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