Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcrware!mwca!bill From: bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: BackupST a must have!!! Message-ID: <1750@mwca.UUCP> Date: 21 Nov 90 18:18:44 GMT References: <639@fsucs.UUCP> <2792@laura.UUCP> <2806@laura.UUCP> <36073@cup.portal.com> Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Santa Clara, CA Lines: 27 In article <36073@cup.portal.com> Henry_Burdett_Messenger@cup.portal.com writes: >Compression should never, ever be used in backups... > >Henry B. Messenger I disagree. How about "Compression should never, ever be used in backups *** for which the lowest possible chance of non-recovery is needed ***." My prior experience says that I (personally) am not too likely to accidentally delete files/kill my hard disk, nor have equipment failure resulting in loss of data. Prior experience also shows a very small chance of a floppy backup being corrupted. The chance of both of these happening is therefore miniscule. (Again, I'm speaking solely for myself and my own level of risk tolerance). Therefore, I would not be uncomfortable with the slightly higher degree of risk imposed by using compression on my backup floppies. I agree that the option for non-compression should be available, and that for any files/data which I must be certain is as secure as possible that I should use the safest backup method possible. But leave that option up to the user. -- ################################################################################ # Bill Sheppard -- bills@microware.com -- {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill # # Microware Systems Corporation --- OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!! # #######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######