Re: Backups work!

Royce Williams wrote:
>> From: Damien Hull <dhull@digitaloverload.net>
>> To: aklug@aklug.org
>> Subject: Backups work!
>> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:48:43 -0900
>>
>> I write this because I know most people don't backup their data. Here's
>> proof that they not only work but can save you time and effort.
>>
>> I was recently asked for a resume. I new I had one somewhere. After
>> searching the server, workstation and laptop I found nothing. I got all
>> the backups from the safe deposit box. I started with the oldest and
>> worked my way up. The second DVD had what I was looking for.
>>
>> The backup was from September 2 2005.
>>
>> If you aren't backing up your data start now. Don't wait. It could save
>> you.
>>
>
> I work and live in a hybrid Windows/Unixlike environment, and have
> been using rsync under Cygwin as well as regular rsync for a while.
> Some geek friends of mine in similar circumstances have recently
> started using Unison, which looks promising (though I haven't tried it
> yet):
>
> From http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/ :
>
> Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows
> two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on
> different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified
> separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in
> each replica to the other.
>
> Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration
> management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.),
> distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring
> utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync,
> Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:
>
> * Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris,
> Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms,
> allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for
> example.
> * Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal
> with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure.
> Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting
> updates are detected and displayed.
> * Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program:
> there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges
> on either host.
> * Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the
> internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling
> over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network
> bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections.
> Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a
> compression protocol similar to rsync.
> * Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the
> replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all
> times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
> * Unison has a clear and precise specification.
> * Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU
> Public License.
>
>
> Royce
>
>
I have used Unison in the past. If you are in a Windows/Unix environment
it works well. It also works if you want to sync a laptop and a
workstation.

I was and will be using rdiff-backup. It uses rsync. Check it out
http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/

Make sure you test both before you put them into production. I've had
issues with both applications. They work but you need to know what they
can and can't do. You don't want to feel safe only to find out that your
backup's are missing data.

Keep your data safe.
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Received on Wed Jan 31 11:24:48 2007