backup systems. (Use Amanda!!)

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

> On the other hand, the entire contents of /etc are around 16MB, and
> compressed with gzip -9 it's only 3MB; so, why not just back up the
> whole thing?  Even if you back up 1000 systems, this is only 3GB of
> data, which is less than 2% of the capacity of a single 160GB SDLT
> tape.

That sums up my whole head-scratching response to the argument in favor of
excluding portions of a system from routine backups.

For example, why should I back up my music library, if I have the original
source on CDs anyway?  I have three arguments:  (1) there is a fair amount of
human effort invested in setting up the MP3 tags, (2) it takes a lot of raw
time to read   multiple CD media versus popping in a single tape, (3) I can
maintain multiple copies and thereby have the data survive a house fire,
theft, or other unpredictable disaster.

I can't presume that everyone reading this has the same financial means.  But
when I saw that practically-new AIT tape drives are going for a hundred bucks
(!) on eBay, along with tapes for fifteen bucks each (!), then why not just
dump the old obsolete hardware and set up backups the right way.  There are
newer-generation tape drives (someone here just mentioned SDLT) but this unit
flies along fast enough, at 11 gigabytes per hour.  Popping in a tape once a
night for a week means you can back up about 80 gigs while you sleep.

-rich