[kwlug disc.] backups yet again

[unsolicited]

I gave up on external USB in favour of going to external eSata and/or 
drive bays. When under Windows, using ext2. I can pop a drive from any 
machine and push it into any other, and get on with my day. This can 
be done live under Windows, but I haven't dared try it yet.

http://www.fs-driver.org/

http://mysite.verizon.net/kaakoon/hotswap/index_enu.htm

First set of IDE drive bays I picked up from Factory Direct, $10 each 
(?) (both chassis and tray). First set of sata drive bays I got from 
Canada Computer, $20 each?

Two gotchas:
- get more bays than you think you'll need. Every set seems to have 
bays and trays that are incompatible with the ones you bought last week.
- keep an eye out for 'tray only' items, e.g. 
http://factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=RE3920, 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=002309&cid=516.351.

http://www.kingwin.com/mobileracks.asp

eSata - 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=012712&cid=516.351

- watch your cable ends - eSata is flat, Sata is 'L'. AND - which you 
need between the computer and the drive. e.g. I also got a PCMCIA 
card, which turned out to have a Sata, not an eSata connector.

- There are case I/O brackets to connect internal Sata cards / 
connectors to the back panel (eSata) connector. Throw the bracket away 
and you've got an eSata to Sata converter cable.

- Only difference between an eSata device and a Sata device is the 
external enclosure provides the power (as well as data) for the drive. 
i.e. It's where the power is coming from that matters, the drives are 
the same.

- Curiously ... the Sata bays used Molex power connectors, not Sata 
power connectors. (1) Go figure (2) Meant I didn't have to go back to 
Antec for further Sata power cables. (-:

Backups happen MUCH faster. 1.5 *G*bps (Sata I) / 3.0 *G*bps (Sata 
II), vs. USB 480 *M*bps, or IEEE 480 *M*bps. I suspect, though, the 
real speed increase comes from getting off the dratted USB pipe, onto 
the MB's native drive connectors. For all intents and purposes, these 
become removable media. Hello single media backup 'cartridges', 
goodbye tape. [Still haven't solved the archive / purge problem. 
Backups just grow, in the meantime. Thank goodness 750 GB, and 1 TB 
drives are becoming affordable.]

Plan is to have one such bay outside the bedroom, and the other in the 
basement, replicating to each other. Whichever way the fire comes 
from, grab the bay (taking the time to shut down the computer properly 
if you can), and get out of dodge. Ultimately I suppose I'll get a 
couple more, rotating one of those off-site periodically to some 
buddy's home.

Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 04/03/2008 10:44 PM:
> What I am going to write does not cover Windows, but worth considering 
> from a bigger picture point of view.
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