OT - backup supplements

[Joe Chasan]

On Sat, Feb 26, 2005 at 05:18:46PM -0500, Leefp1 at aol.com wrote:
> Just curious...
> 
> Do others find that the need for a backup is rarely the result of hardware 
> failure, but rather user error or misunderstanding and/or (dare I say it) 
> programmer failure?  
> 
> My observation is that by far the majority of the time I have needed to 
> restore something from a backup it was because the user irretrievably messed 
> something up; or I programmed badly and therefore inadvertently allowed a bad, 
> unintended consequence to result.

i definitely agree.  
 
> Further, would you not agree that restoring from backup media is tedious and 
> sometimes frustrating, especially when you don't have control of the media, 
> having left that to the user?
> 
> So... I have for some time now been adding another phase to my backup 
> routines, namely copying filepro key files and other data files to other names in 
> other directories on the hard drive.  This allows me a quick and easy way to 
> restore data without going to a site and without requiring the user to find the 
> correct backup media.  This has worked so well, I am thinking of adding to the 
> plan so that multiple versions of the data exist, e.g. multiple sets of the 
> data just as there are multiple sets of backup media.  
> 
> For those of you with huge data files this strategy might not be viable.  But 
> my largest key file is only about 200 mb, so for me it is doable.  With the 
> cost of hard drive space low, and CPU speed high, I am thinking this plan is 
> good.
> 
> Any comments?

if your server is used only as a storage depot for filePro and other files
created by the programmer/administrator, this seems like a good idea, and
you can expand on it when short on space to do off-site, multi-machine,
other media, etc.

if, however, your server is also a file server, where users keep their home
directories and network shares, i don't think there is much your strategy
can do to help the user stupidies in that environment.

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-Joe Chasan-                      Magnatech Business Systems, Inc.
joe at magnatechonline.com           Hicksville, NY - USA
http://www.MagnatechOnline.com    Tel.(516) 931-4444/Fax.(516) 931-1264