Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> For a home setup, I would suggest that RAID is way overkill, and a 
> simple offline backup now and then is what you actually want.

The problem with this is that it's easy to forget or to just be lazy and
procrastinate (until the day that your HD breaks.)

The best option would be to use an external storage device and an automatic
backupping program. This way you always have a very recent backup without
having to do anything.

Apple's Time Machine is an excellent idea (it automatically backs up your
data incrementally at certain intervals, and it has a GUI that makes it
very easy to restore any file), but I wonder if there are any programs for
other systems that would do the same.

The most typical backup program for other systems is something that you
have to run manually, and most often than not with a horrible nightmare
of a user interface. (For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.
Something that takes like 5 seconds with Time Machine can take at minimum
5 minutes with OpenSuse's system backup, often more. And of course it's
in no way automatic.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:25:26 -0500, Warp wrote:

> The most typical backup program for other systems is something that you
> have to run manually, and most often than not with a horrible nightmare
> of a user interface. (For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
> it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.
> Something that takes like 5 seconds with Time Machine can take at
> minimum 5 minutes with OpenSuse's system backup, often more. And of
> course it's in no way automatic.)

rsync + cron = backup goodness.

Jim

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On 01/26/2013 11:25 AM, Warp wrote:
>(For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
> it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.

No kidding ... and the backup is awkward as well, epic fail as far as 
I'm concerned. Oh and adding my two cents I just use find -newer + cpio 
and copy over to 2TB USB external ... I just have my email nag me once a 
week.

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On 27-1-2013 4:15, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 01/26/2013 11:25 AM, Warp wrote:
>> (For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
>> it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.
>
> No kidding ... and the backup is awkward as well, epic fail as far as
> I'm concerned. Oh and adding my two cents I just use find -newer + cpio
> and copy over to 2TB USB external ... I just have my email nag me once a
> week.
>
Fwiw, for almost 10 years I have used now two USB external backup drives 
with GoodSync as backup software (http://www.goodsync.com). I am 
perfectly happy.

Thomas

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On 27/01/2013 02:12 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:

> rsync + cron = backup goodness.

Fine if you know your way around the CLI. Not so great for your typical 
computer user who doesn't understand all that stuff...

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On 26/01/2013 04:25 PM, Warp wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>> For a home setup, I would suggest that RAID is way overkill, and a
>> simple offline backup now and then is what you actually want.
>
> The problem with this is that it's easy to forget or to just be lazy and
> procrastinate (until the day that your HD breaks.)

Yeah, well that's true enough.

(For example, I don't have any backups whatsoever. Then again, about the 
worst thing that could happen is that I lose all my photos, so...)

> The best option would be to use an external storage device and an automatic
> backupping program. This way you always have a very recent backup without
> having to do anything.

Perhaps a network storage device? IDK.

> The most typical backup program for other systems is something that you
> have to run manually, and most often than not with a horrible nightmare
> of a user interface.

I love how even extremely expensive enterprise backup systems like 
Symantec BackupExec have a horrifically awful GUI and minimal 
documentation...

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On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 09:30:06 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> On 27/01/2013 02:12 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> 
>> rsync + cron = backup goodness.
> 
> Fine if you know your way around the CLI. Not so great for your typical
> computer user who doesn't understand all that stuff...

Fortunately, there are forums where people can ask questions about how to 
set it up. :)

Jim

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On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 05:25:46 -0500, Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 09:30:06 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> 
>> On 27/01/2013 02:12 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> 
>>> rsync + cron = backup goodness.
>> 
>> Fine if you know your way around the CLI. Not so great for your typical
>> computer user who doesn't understand all that stuff...
> 
> Fortunately, there are forums where people can ask questions about how
> to set it up. :)

That is, if they can't figure out a Google search that will explain it to 
them:

http://bit.ly/WplQf2

:)

Jim

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:25:26 -0500, Warp wrote:

> > The most typical backup program for other systems is something that you
> > have to run manually, and most often than not with a horrible nightmare
> > of a user interface. (For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
> > it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.
> > Something that takes like 5 seconds with Time Machine can take at
> > minimum 5 minutes with OpenSuse's system backup, often more. And of
> > course it's in no way automatic.)

> rsync + cron = backup goodness.

I don't think rsync does incremental backups. In other words, if you
wanted to restore an earlier version of a file, it's not possible.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Le 27/01/2013 11:53, Warp nous fit lire :
> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:25:26 -0500, Warp wrote:
> 
>>> The most typical backup program for other systems is something that you
>>> have to run manually, and most often than not with a horrible nightmare
>>> of a user interface. (For example you wouldn't believe how complicated
>>> it is to restore one single file with OpenSuse's system backup utility.
>>> Something that takes like 5 seconds with Time Machine can take at
>>> minimum 5 minutes with OpenSuse's system backup, often more. And of
>>> course it's in no way automatic.)
> 
>> rsync + cron = backup goodness.
> 
> I don't think rsync does incremental backups. In other words, if you
> wanted to restore an earlier version of a file, it's not possible.
> 
If you want to keep track of various version of a file, you need a
revision control system (and then backup the repository), such as
(<start holy war>): mercurial, cvs, rcs, svn, git, ...
( holy wars never stop, no end tag)


If hardlinks are a reality on the receiving file system, you might keep
more than one backup on the same media without doubling the actual used
size. But this starts requesting a bit of discipline.

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