[Discuss] SSD drives vs. Mechanical drives

[Richard Pieri]

Jack Coats wrote:
> That is the difference between 'oh damn' backup protection (missing or
> corrupt file or two)
> and 'oh sh%*' full restore protection.

That's why I prefer and recommend a combination of online or nearline
storage for primary backup purposes and nearline or offline storage for
long term storage. One example is using Amanda to back up nodes to
virtual tapes on a big ZFS raidz2 and then writing those dumps to tape
every few weeks. Another is copying Btrfs snapshots to hard drives in a
eSATA or USB dock that's only turned on during copies and then rotating
out these disks to a fire box.

And the rule of thumb: figure out how much time you can afford to spend
reconstructing lost or corrupt data. Run backups at least that often.

-- 
Rich P.