[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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