Re: backups on a budget advice

Subject: Re: backups on a budget advice

From: David Haines <email@hidden>

Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:56:33 -0500

Delivered-to: email@hidden

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On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:37:19 -0500 Eben <email@hidden> wrote:
Hi,

I've got three dual G5 Xserves that I would like to get into a backup
plan. I have an extremely limited budget (< $1,000). I'd be
interested to hear what other people do for low budget backup.
Network drives, Firewire drives, etc... asr, hdiutil, rsync, etc...

I would be especially interested in hearing about product
experience... For instance, I've heard some negative things about
Lacie drives and G5s... any truth there?

Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.

On Nov 29, 2007, at 12:15 PM, Ski Kacoroski wrote:

Eben,

Depends on what you are looking for and how much space you need to
backup, but here is one option that works well.

(1) old pentium 4 or better PC from a recycle place ($50)
(2) 1TB disk drives ($600)
(1) 3ware sata raid controller ($300)

Put ubuntu on the PC (it will need a separate internal disk for the OS)
and set up the 1TB disks in a mirror configuration. Install backuppc
and you are set. This system will backup, archive, and keep versions
of older data for you. If you need to take critical data offsite, it
can burn the data to a DVD. I have been using setups like this for
years with lots of success. Of course, if you do not need a TB of disk
storage, you can really reduce the costs. BTW, depending on your data,
backuppc will get between 20 - 50% compression.

Ok, for Mac OS X clients the above means you'll be relying on rsync by the looks of things. And if you care about "extended attributes" you'll need a matching version on the Linux box,

which is not push-button easy. I say "extended attributes" because rsync and files on a Mac is a lengthy discussion you can find in the archives here.

You need to determine if it's going to keep everything you really need, and work with its peculiarities when trying to do so (the whole "E" option).

If you're going to go that route however, use any box you choose better yet an old Mac that can run a matching Mac OS X, and use rsnapshot instead.

See http://www.rsnapshot.org

Please don't rely on any single PC (with internal drives) or a single external drive. One drive/PC is probably not going offsite (re: fire, etc.) and is as prone to failure as the source drives. Use multiple drives on a rotating basis, for example.

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Follow-Ups:

Re: backups on a budget advice
- From: Chip Mefford <email@hidden>
Re: backups on a budget advice
- From: Ski Kacoroski <email@hidden>
Re: backups on a budget advice
- From: Jeff Kelleher <email@hidden>

References:

>backups on a budget advice (From: Eben <email@hidden>)

>Re: backups on a budget advice (From: Ski Kacoroski <email@hidden>)