mp3 maintanance (was Re: D'oh! moments)

[Rich Braun]

David Kramer <david at thekramers.net> wrote:
> Backing up 120GB of MP3's is NOT trivial.

Scott Prive <scottprive at earthlink.net> replied:
> You don't think so? I've already done it.

I tend to agree with Scott.  Once you install your hundred-dollar, 35-gig
drive, the only non-trivial aspect of invoking the backup is the time it takes
(at 3 megs/second, 120GB takes 40,000 seconds = 11.1 hours).  You also have to
change the tapes a few times during that process, whether you're using 'tar',
Amanda, Legato or whatever.  In my case, since I use Amanda, I merely have to
pop in a new tape each day; with 30 seconds of effort every 4 days, I have
about 140GB of data in my pocket.

If one were limited to DVD or CDROM media in the home-user price range, I'd
agree that it's semi-ludicrous to back up 120GB of data.  But tape is
available at a decent price.

-rich