[H-GEN] DVD+RW media for backups

[Jason Parker-Burlingham]

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Greg Black <gjb at gbch.net> writes:

> On 2003-11-17, Jason Parker-Burlingham wrote:
>> Greg Black <gjb at gbch.net> writes:
>> > On 2003-11-16, Jason Parker-Burlingham wrote:

> I understand that price can be an issue, although I find it less
> than compelling given the current prices of DDS-3 drives and
> media.  Given the importance to me of my backups, I'd sell my
> car and buy a tape drive and a cheaper car if that was the only
> way out.

I'm not sure I can find a DDS-3 tape unit for US$150, which is what I
paid for the burner, which has the added benefits of letting me put a
working CD-ROM drive into my partner's computer, and burning
rarely-used files onto CD-Rs (digital photos, old email, etc).

Much as it pains me to say it, I think my backups aren't that
important to me yet, although this conversation *is* making me think
that I should probably print out copies of the important little notes
I take from time to time.

>> > 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?
> Six shell scripts totalling 1486 lines (of which 915 are code);
> one (rarely-used) C program of 75 lines of code; three man pages
> with 560 lines (in source form).

Probably less C code than I expected.  And the man pages are a great
idea.

> And, just for interest, the latest SAGE News Summary (Volume 2,
> Number 39 of November 17, 2003) just arrived and has this item:

Heh, we just referenced the same study.  (And the SAGE News Summary is
excellent.  Rob Kolstad is always looking for contributors!)

> Well, I hope I've encouraged you to re-consider optical rotating
> media in the light of reliability concerns; and to re-consider
> tapes in the light of the true value of backups versus the cost.

I think the current regime won't last more than a few months.  By then
a real tape unit will certainly be on the cards.

jason, still looking into his options for storing full and incremental
       backups sensibly and cost-effectively on this media
-- 
Baby Pictures:
      http://panix.com/~jasonp?HenryGrosvenorParkerBurlingham

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