[H-GEN] DVD+RW media for backups

[Jason Parker-Burlingham]

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Greg Black <gjb at gbch.net> writes:

> On 2003-11-16, Jason Parker-Burlingham wrote:
>> I've come into possession of a DVD+RW drive [...]  I've
>> been playing with it trying to come up with a cheap, simple and above
>> all reliable way to make backups of my system.
>
> So far, all I can think of is "Ick!"  Just yesterday, I spent an
> hour on the phone with my sister talking her and her partner out
> of such a scheme for their home network, which is quite similar
> (although they have less data to backup, being writers).

I know.  I'd like to have a tape unit.  I really would.  However, this
is what's in my price range right now and it also happens to
correspond pretty well to the level of risk I want cover myself for.

> As anybody who has been paying attention knows, I am a complete
> Luddite when it comes to backups -- if I am faced with the very
> nasty surprise of discovering that I need to *use* a backup, I
> really don't want the much nastier surprise of then finding that I
> can't use it.

Actually, part of the reason I'm doing things this way---I just
realized this as I sat down to write---is that it's work very well for
me in the past.  When I moved here I did not want to have to find a
tape unit to copy all my data off my backup and onto my new computer,
so I got some help from friends and copied it all onto a CD instead,
after some heavy pruning.  Worked like a charm, and I'll bet the disk
is still usable (although badly out of date by now).

> So I use hardware that's well away from leading edge (but still
> nicely current) and I use the software that I developed over some
> years and which hasn't changed for at least fifteen years.

Nice.  How many lines of code?

> There's no way it can transfer to DVD or the
> like.  And, while DVD is so limited in space, it offers no real
> benefit over DDS-3 tapes.

The space limitations are the only thing *right now* that will make me
try to take this thing back for a refund or whatever.  (Did I mention
I was on the job a few weeks ago and discovered the horror of a
customer whose tape drive had pulled the end of the tape right off the
spool?  On all their tapes?[1])

> I've acquired quite a lot of
> software on DVD from various sources over the past year and have
> regular issues with read failures.

On the other hand we have some guy---I think he has something to do
with informationweek?---who very recently tested all his old CDs and
found the only ones that didn't read well were those with stuck-on
labels.  My experience matches pretty well, and I have no problem with
churning through media often enough to reduce the chance of being
caught out.

> For now, my suggestion is: just say no.

Sadly, that's pretty much the one thing I can't do.  I'd *like* to use
tapes.  I really would.  But I think that is going to be six or twelve
months down the track.

jason

[1] : Okay, so they should have been watching their tapes more
      closely; the person responsible for that had been on holiday,
      apparently.  It was probably my first really bad experience with
      tapes.
-- 
Baby Pictures:
      http://panix.com/~jasonp?HenryGrosvenorParkerBurlingham

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