
... but I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't done it in years...




For some reason I had this feeling lately that my hard drive might let me down... which raised a question: how often do you backup your data, and how? Do you use any software?
"fafner" wrote:I do backups the paranoid and manual wayirate: I do backups a few times each month, by compressing a given set of folders that contains everything important: configuration folders, data folders, etc. I use a simple ZIP archiver (kind of, it is in fact a bz2 compressor, but I won't pick on the details), so as to have 1 file per folder. Then, those files are put on 2 external USB drives (that's the "weak" paranoid part). I will usually backup a folder after significant changes (especially the development folder, which is by far my most precious data).
"fafner" wrote:Once every month, I backup every folder, and send them encrypted with a 30-characters passphrase to various servers over the Internet, for cases of fire or robbery, or worse (that's the real paranoid part). AND each time I simulate a complete restore, so as to be sure I don't forget how to get back my data (or worse, in case the backup silently fails, it happened at least once). It is especially important in order not to forget the passphrase: of course, I can't back it up in clear, or there is no use to encrypt everything![]()
I've yet to experience this in 11 years... knocking on wood! My current hard drive is 7 years old..."fafner" wrote:Backups become important, very important, after one's first disk crash. Believe me...
I've yet to experience this in 11 years... knocking on wood! My current hard drive is 7 years old..."Astro Forever" wrote:[QUOTE=fafner;74451]Backups become important, very important, after one's first disk crash. Believe me...
Another question: is it better to leave computers running, or to shut them down at the end of each days? I've heard pro and cons for both and I didn't check to see if things had changed in the past years. However, I did notice that it was better to turn off the monitor!
"fafner" wrote:I had 4 major disk failures, 3 of them were true disk crashes (the first one was a software bug in MS-DOS, thanks M$). Interestingly, the disks which crashed weren't the oldest ones. At least 2 of them were IBM deskstar (later nicknamed Deathstars).
The answer is simple: if you want to save energy, switch off everything. Otherwise, just know that switching on and off is bad for hardware, especially for hard drives. I have a server running without interruption since years, and it still has this old 10-Gb hard drive, which has seen many other newer hard disks dieBut don't hesitate to switch off the monitor (especially if it is an old CRT): it consumes a lot (more cost and heat), and if it breaks down, at least it doesn't hold any data
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"Astro Forever" wrote:I love those nicknames... Another one I saw recently, and old one that I had forgotten: "plug and pray"!
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Do you know if a computer consumes a lot of energy?
Also, what about the dust inside, or the ventilator? I suppose that if the ventilator is broken, many parts of the computer could die...?![]()
"Astro Forever" wrote:I do consider buying an external hard drive!![]()
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