Posted by Steve Smith on Apr 08, 2013; 6:49pm URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Cloud-storage-tp7582450p7582596.html
Doug!
Just curious why you Mac guys are buying backup
systems, when there is a perfectly good way to use rsync. Here's
my nightly backup script, which currently sends my nightly
incrementals to a cheap 3TB USB3 external drive:
I'ts the glitzy interface! Have you ever *SEEN* it? You feel like
you are traveling back in time and can find any previous state a the
click of a button! ;^)
Actually, there is *something* to this. In my case, it was after a
particular ugly crash/loss (you know how hard I can be on my
equipment) without a good backup... I hadn't *bothered* to set up
and test a good backup system and finally got caught with my pants
tangled around my ankles and decided that the incremental cost of a
"Time Machine" over a basic disk of similar magnitude (might have
been $400 vs $300) would pay for itself the first hour I *didn't*
have to think too hard about how to use it. I spent more than a
little time convincing myself the damned system actually *worked*
but it wasn't until the first real emergency use that I got much
confidence.
I use even more clunky methods with my Linux systems and don't
bother at ALL with my Winderz versions... except maybe to make
entire disk images... but the fact is, these are not my *working*
systems... I build them and use them to test for *very specific
purposes* and am as likely as not to wipe and rebuild anyway for
each new project.
I occasionally use TM (mostly for my wife) to simply go find an
event where she deleted or overwrote something she needed. Usually
I can find in e-mail the date/time of the triggering event, usually
several days to a few months previous, and then go bumble around in
the Time Machine until I *see* the (usually a flurry of) changes and
forensically can figure out exactly *what* changed and *guess* why,
etc. A point and click later and we are back to the earlier state,
and if I'm wrong, another point and click and we are at another
state, and ....
Is there an equivalent process you use for recovering things you
aren't sure when/where/how you lost? Seems likely, but it is
probably a little harder to learn. I no longer have the benefit of
working amongst a group of like-minded Unix-Heads (though this list
is a good resource) such that this kind of folk-knowledge suffuses
through my bony skull.
I also keep the state of my *entire* system backed up because (blame
it on Apple, but I think the package managers for Linux create the
same challenge) I have *no clue* where much of the state of my
system is actually maintained... when I install software, libraries,
frameworks, etc... I have at best a vague idea where it actually
resides. To wit, I *know* that most Mac Apps are this hairball of
code and data and libraries and pointers to dynamic libraries and
simply dumping the Application File somewhere (usually the
Applications Directory) is all that is involved in an install.
Unfortunately, frameworks in particular are a bit trickier... and I
*do* sometimes wish I understood better how all that worked (as I
would *almost* have to if working closer to the OS as with Linux),
but frankly I'm too lazy... I'm usually trying something out, and
don't want to invest much more than a few point, clicks, and
"agrees" to give it a test drive. This means my system is pretty
crufty with installed stuff I never use. But so is my
toolbench/toolbox.... tools I needed for *one job* still being
carried around for no particular reason!
Maybe I *will* use your method on my Linux systems... seems prudent
and easy enough. But then surely more than my *home* directory
which is the *least* of my worries on my Linux systems.
On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 12:02 PM,
Steve Smith <[hidden email]>
wrote:
My $.02 on Time Machine.
I bought a 2TB time machine about 4? years ago and set
up two MB Pro's with it. Other than a little
irritation from accidental reboots on the device
(connected to the same power strip as my flakey
motorola internet service, yielding a reboot via
powerstrip toggle sometimes), I've had nothing but
good look.
I've only had one occasion to do a full restore in an
emergency and it worked like a charm.. I *have* used
it to migrate between MB Pros and an iMac about 5 or 6
times in the same period. That has worked flawlessly
as well.
It might be prudent to back that up somewhere offsite,
but I'm just not that prudent and now am spoiled to my
regular "backup" and potential "restores" being almost
entirely invisible to me. I can't tell from the
discussion on the list how "transparent" the true
cloud services are, unfortunately I'm pretty sure my
totally lame internet would make *restore* a long and
painful experience.
- Steve
I have one data point. One of our
Macs near Seattle had a drive fail, so I had an
employee take it to an Apple store. The 'genius'
was very happy when he saw the Time Machine, and,
I think, nothing was lost.
About the depth of cloud backups: I now use
Arq on the Mac. The backups are in Amazon's S3,
and the frequency is settable: I have one done
every hour. You set a limit on how much space
you want to use -- just as a Time Machine has a
fixed size -- and once you hit that limit, it
will overwrite the oldest versions as necessary.
Also the paid version of DropBox keeps at least
some history. For saving a Time Machine offsite,
Amazons Glacier storage is one cent a gigabyte
per month, so your 150 gigabytes would be $18
per year. They really hit you with transfer
charges if you try to read a large amount in a
short time, but since that presumably happens
only when your Mac and your time machine have
both been roasted in a fire, you probably will
be happy to pay them. Unfortunately 150 gigs is
not enough for most time machines.
--Barry
On Apr 6, 2013, at 8:42 AM, "Robert J.
Cordingley" <[hidden email]>
wrote:
So
has anyone successfully restored an entire
system from the Cloud (or a Time Machine
come to think of it)? How easy was it?
Any statistics on success rate?
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