[Gllug] Advice on backup options

[Rev Simon Rumble]

This one time, at band camp, Richard Huxton wrote:

> If they can't afford a tape-drive, is there any possibility they could 
> afford to recover from a fire?

Certainly.  That's what insurance is for.

> I'd be tempted to go for the 2 x USB drives option and swap them once a 
> week. If they have large HDDs in one or more PCs then you could share a 
> directory from them and back up nightly there too.

"Swap" brings with it the risk that all the copies of data are in one
place at the same time, which if you're going to the expense of buying
two defeats the purpose.

I was thinking more this kind of schedule (R=remote L=local):
    R  L
Mon 12
Tue 1  2
Wed 21
Thu 2  1
Fri 12

In other words, the backup controller brings a drive in on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday and takes one home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Backups occur on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Thoughts?

> Your backup list is good, but if they're on limited resources they may 
> need to compromise. Can they archive emails from a year ago? Can they 
> archive old project files? Are there large numbers of duplicate word 
> docs they can live without instant access to?

Yes they will have to compromise...  The problem with archiving
systems is that they rely on end-users understanding the difference
and acting appropriately.  By way of example, I found a user last week
had been storing files for her current project on a local drive
because the storage space on the server is low.

Ideally any system should be transparent to the end-users and clear
instructions (store EVERYTHING on the server) can be given.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
- J K Galbraith
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