fchan

discussion

Extra hard drives, DVD-RWs or something else?

Pages:1
1Report
Randomness at 2 Feb 2006: 08:18

I've been periodically backing up many small files to DVD-R, but I've got many versions of the same files on many different DVD-Rs. This is because I heard that while you're supposed to be able to rewrite a DVD-RW 1000 times, in practice it can be as few as a dozen before errors start to occur. I'm leaning towards extra hard drives. Agree?

2Report
at 2 Feb 2006: 09:22

do it like any other backup media  3 seperate devices the files are stored upon, rotate said media with each backup.
 everything can die be it dvd's cd's or hd's.
that is like level one of backup strategy
level two is a second full copy of the backup media maintained of site level three is a third set yet somewhere else.
what you put the data on is really more a personal choice than anything else.

3Report
Randomness at 2 Feb 2006: 15:38

My issue is I have too many obsolete/unnecessary versions of files backed up on unrewritable media, combined with other data which isn't backed up in multiple places. It's sloppy and inefficient.

Rewritable DVDs seem the way to go, but I'd eat up a dozen rewrites quickly. Hard drives are great, and seem ideal, but while they've crashed in price, I don't earn a lot, so I'd need to get several big ones for it to be worth it.

*scours sales for large USB hard drives*

4Report
at 4 Feb 2006: 05:01

Yes, collecting "junk" files is one of my downfalls too :-(

You just need to sort them, copy good ones to your HDD, then make fresh backups.

RAID arrays, hot-swappable hard drives and USB drives are also wonderful things.

5Report
at 4 Feb 2006: 22:03

obsolete/unnecessary versions of files
From harddrive to harddrive or to disc this sorts & update files for dates,size & lot more options & it free.

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

6Report
Silky Paws at 4 Feb 2006: 23:37

What exactly is the point of going through the trouble of copying all of your files, aside from possible HD destruction by a virus? Other than the added protection, it seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

7Report
at 5 Feb 2006: 00:12

data can be considerd priceless, and hds most decidedly can and will fail! its not if, its a question of when, past that issue then its a question that becomes one that only the person with the data can honestly go, "yes i need backup" or "no i dont".
something like 8 years ago I lost 3 years worth of purely digital artwork I had created . I had *no* backups.
and i should have known better as that was a point in my life I was doing pc service and tech support.
is backing up data important to myself . *YES*
my *imporetant* data lives on the hd/s in this comp the hd of my gateway/firewall box on a couple external hds (stored at a freinds house in his ""fire proof"" safe.
yes none of that is fool proof, but i worry less.
peace out people. 

8Report
Randomness at 7 Feb 2006: 12:30

>>5 Thanks for the Karen link. I need time to sort the good/bad data though, though. I accumulate more unnecessary files whie I'm sorting the unnecssary files, both on HDD and DVD-R. Just need to find a way so I sort faster than I collect junk. Just bought a 250GB LaCie USB drive for $140, so a step in the right direction.

9Report
at 5 Mar 2006: 05:36

A long time ago, I bought a single 40GB external USB drive to use as an 'ultimate data warehouse'. I'd toss various data files and projects there, all nicely organized. Worked out neat too, as I could free up space on other computers and zip/jaz drives I was keeping various items on--just slide them to that computer over the network, and drop the files in.

Just as I was getting comfortable with the routine, the drive failed. I should've seen the signs--it would mysteriously "disappear" in Win98 if not accessed for a few minutes, and bluescreen if I tried to access it after that point. Unplug and replug its USB cable, and all would be well for the next few minutes. Using it under Win2000, and the disappearing drive problems ceased--until Win2000 stopped giving it a drive letter.

Now I'm facing the specter of data recovery on that drive (the platter spins up, but the heads won't seek anything) since a lot of stuff on there is large scans and work-in-progress versions of stuff I later shrank and compressed for display online.

Nowadays, I keep these files on three seperate small (10G or so) laptop hard drives in USB enclosures. Two at home, and one in my locker at work. Every time I complete a project, the lineart, flatshaded, and uncompressed full-color images (as well as any textures and descriptions) are collected into a single project folder and copied to the two external drives at home, then a copy is transferred to a thumb drive and carried to the drive at work. Now, I'm reasonably safe from any one drive failing.

Bottom line--A step in the right direction you've taken, but take at least one more as soon as you can, as you never know when your backup might need a backup too. 

10Report
at 5 Mar 2006: 07:08

As I am a bit of a computer geek, my setup consists of desktop and a laptop. The desktop has two 40G hd's in raid 1 ( mirroring ) which are used as "work drives", so they include root and home directory. The contents of this raid-set is also duplicated to the laptop with sync so I have my home dir always  available in both, the desktop and the laptop.

Currently I'm thinking of buying a third hard disk to the desktop which would be used as a rotated and scheduled back-up drive. So it'd keep a few snapshots of home dir as a backup in case of user error or something similar ( rm -rf * anyone ;)

And no, I do not think I'm overdoing it ;)

11Report
at 5 Mar 2006: 13:24

What's wrong with using plain write-once DVD-R's?  If finding files is a problem, just mark the DVD-R with a number, get a list of files with "dir /S" or "ls -R" or whatever, name that list with the number the DVD-R is on, and save the list somewhere.  you can then search the list files and find what disc a file is on.

However, if we're talking data in the size of 80GB or more, it's probably best to buy a hd, copy backup data to it until it is full, and remove the hd from the computer until it's needed for restoration. 

I can't wait until 80GB hard drives are like $30-$40.  Oh, and never buy Maxtor HD's.  They're crap.

12Report
at 6 Mar 2006: 11:26

>>11 The problem is I have all these little files that are often changing, so some of the data on the DVD-R's are already obsolete, becoming more numerous as time goes on. Keeping track of which files are obsolete, which DVD they're on and pretty soon storage space for the DVDs is unwieldly.

>>9 Two backups is a good idea, but one I can't yet afford.

13Report
Ian at 6 Mar 2006: 12:46

Just bought myself a hard drive last week, kind of just in time, too. At 3GB out of 40, I was getting worried; luckily, the one I bought, from Seagate, comes with a five year warranty for the drive itself should something muck up, and I don't have as much important data to keep. All the same, in the interest of keeping errors at bay, it's always good to have some steady form of backup; 120 gigs for seventy bucks (that was on sale, I think they're back to a hundred) certainly doesn't hurt. I'd prefer installing a new HDD far over using DVD-RWs.

14Add Reply
Name Sage? - captcha =
First Page - Last 40 - Entire Thread

Powered by: Shiichan Version 3956
The contents of this page are asserted to be in the public domain by the posters.
The administrators claim no responsibility for thread content.
Manage