Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!smsc.sony.com!dce
From: dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Need backup options for 80M hard drive
Message-ID: <1991Jun6.181847.27503@smsc.sony.com>
Date: 6 Jun 91 18:18:47 GMT
References: <1991Jun5.014055.28473@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Sender: dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott)
Organization: Sony Microsystems, San Jose, CA
Lines: 36


In article <1991Jun5.014055.28473@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>, rwyckoff@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (richard wyckoff) writes:
|> I also have an 80Mb drive.
|> I use 1.44Mb floppies and fastback2.  I end up with more like 40 floppies
|> for a full backup.
|> I realize you were expecting a hardware solution, but consider useing
|> a compression util.  Also, move most of your static stuff (the files you
|> haven't changed in 10 or 12 months) to a separate area, make a one-time
|> backup of it, and leave it alone.  What you're left with is a much more
|> manageable area which needs more frequent backups.  Most backup utils have
|> compression options, and, after an initial "full" backup, allow you to do
|> "incremental" backups: only the files changed since the previous backup are
|> bothered with.  In this case, it's so not important that you move the stable
|> stuff to "don't-save-new-stuff-in-me" area.

I went with this type of solution for a while, but the first time I
had to rebuild my filesystem after a hard disk crash, I decided I
didn't like this method.  I spent a week getting the system back into
the shape it was in before the crash.

For about a year, I used floppies and FastBack II.  I did a full backup
every month and did incrementals every day or two, depending upon how
much I did with the machine.  It was still a pain to schedule a couple
of hours of time to pull and push floppies every couple of minutes.

Last year, I bought an APS SyQuest drive and RetroSpect.  I have a little
over 100MB of disk space used on my main drive.  Every Sunday morning,
I do a full backup while I work on the yard and garden.  All I have to
do is go and change cartridges 3 times and its all done for me.  Each
night, I do an automatic incremental at around 3:00am.

--
...David Elliott
...dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce
...(408)944-4073
..."Art is never fair" - paa