Subject: Backups
From: Bob Crosby (rcrosby@mtaonline.net)
Date: Sun Feb 08 2004 - 17:56:21 AKST
Here's a backup idea I've been mulling over.
The Strategy:
1. Install a mobile rack[1] in my computer (running Linux RH9), and have two
matching HDD's that I can easily swap out, on a regular schedule. Call this
drive "Backup", and mount it to the filetree.
2. Install a full, bootable OS (with all settings &configuration matching
theprimary) on both backups.
3. Then every night, run a cron job that copies whatever data and config
files that were changed that day, to "Backup".
4. Once a week or so, swap out the backup drives, take one offsite, keep in
asafe place.
Main question(s):
1. If the primary HDD on this machine failed, could I just change the BIOS
(in Setup) to boot from the 2nd (backup) drive and be up and running as if
nothing had happened? Or at least be able to stay functional, with a minimum
of downtime &hassle, giving me time to deal with fixing/replacing the
primaryproblem?
2. If I were to drop one of these backup HDD's into some other machine,
couldI just as easily boot from it? (In case some other catastrophe
happened,that totally fried the first machine, e.g. a fire.)
If so, here are the perceived benefits I see:
1. Cheap. Total cost of hardware is $27 for the mobile rack--or $54 if I buy
a 2nd one to put in another machine, zero for HDD's (if I use some "old"
40GBdrives pulled out of other machines that were recently upgraded.) This
isa lot cheaper than buying &running a backup server.
2. Easy. Recovery involves rebooting machine, hitting F2 during bootup,
changing boot drive setting, and rebooting again. Voila. I'm up &running.
(Maybe. Depending on answers to above..?)
3. Provides more multi-level redundancy than RAID1. Depending on how often
the 2 backup drives are swapped out, worst case is a loss of 1 day's work,
and even that would require some cascading failures.
What do people think of this idea? Does it have merit?
--- Links ---
1 http://www.buyaib.com/hddmobracwit.html
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Sun Feb 08 2004 - 19:56:34 AKST