Willl
Elite Member
Ink ?
Computer Backup Services
- Thread starter ultrarunner
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BuddyN
New member
....sorry Willl. a better word would have been the CD substrate that the laser writes into.
/pine
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Data written onto CDs or DVDs is done with a laser via a "burning" drive...it makes no difference if the laser is part of a duplication machine or a personal computer...a contributing factor is the format of the data before it is transfered onto the media (burned)...if the data is of a standardized format it is permanent and can be read by with the same standardized software regardless...if the data is formatted using proprietary software it can only be read using the same proprietary software...
A good example is...: try burning a typical video that is viewable on a computer...onto a DVD...then put the DVD into your stand alone DVD player...chances are it will not work because the two formats are not compatible (standardized)
there are several software applications that allow a user to drag and drop files onto a (formatted) DVD or CD (as a back up etc) much the same as a hard drive...however most of these applications are not compatible with each other so if the data is wriiten to the media using one application it is likely not readable by another...
dmccarty
Super Star Member
DVDs/CDs are pressed. What is burned on a PC is well burned. 
Are any of these technologies archival? Depends on ones definition of the word archival.
Even a magnetic tape, who uses those anymore, and hard drives will have a lifetime.
The reality is there is no perfect backup. I back up on external USB drives, USB thumb drives and DVDs. Each has its good points and bad points.
Since we are talking about backing up computer data you also have to worry about having hardware the will read the media used to hold the backed up data as well as the software to use the data once recovered.
I have programs on paper can cassette tapes. The paper tape is still in good shape. I doubt the cassette tape is readable at this point. In both cases its a moot point since in both cases I don't have the computer to run those programs nor do I have a way to read the media.
Later,
Dan
Are any of these technologies archival? Depends on ones definition of the word archival.
Even a magnetic tape, who uses those anymore, and hard drives will have a lifetime.
The reality is there is no perfect backup. I back up on external USB drives, USB thumb drives and DVDs. Each has its good points and bad points.
Since we are talking about backing up computer data you also have to worry about having hardware the will read the media used to hold the backed up data as well as the software to use the data once recovered.
I have programs on paper can cassette tapes. The paper tape is still in good shape. I doubt the cassette tape is readable at this point. In both cases its a moot point since in both cases I don't have the computer to run those programs nor do I have a way to read the media.
Later,
Dan
BuddyN
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/pine
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are you insinuating that "back-up" data is "pressed"...seems kind of extreme for an end user
neilly2
Silver Member
I've worked in data centers for some of the largest financial institutions in the world, and I prefer to take a page out of there playbook.
They store the data in multiple locations -- period. The chances of catastrophe simultaneously in different parts of the country is incredibly small. You want the back up to be as far away from the source as possible. They don't squirrel it away on discs and bury it in the backyard.
Also, why presume that the servers for the online backup servers are overseas?? They don't need cheap sweatshop labor, and they aren't breaking US law which is the impetus behind placing servers overseas. It makes more sense for them to keep it domestic -- i'm not sure myself but i'm going to find out for sure.
They store the data in multiple locations -- period. The chances of catastrophe simultaneously in different parts of the country is incredibly small. You want the back up to be as far away from the source as possible. They don't squirrel it away on discs and bury it in the backyard.
Also, why presume that the servers for the online backup servers are overseas?? They don't need cheap sweatshop labor, and they aren't breaking US law which is the impetus behind placing servers overseas. It makes more sense for them to keep it domestic -- i'm not sure myself but i'm going to find out for sure.
Willl
Elite Member
What medium do they use ?
ragkar
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Ultrarunner, I'm really concerned about backups since I lost a hard drive last week.
First of all, the proposed solution of an external USB drive is not for you since W98 and W98SE does not support USB 2.0. I had W98SE for many years and looked hard for a software solution and there was none. You are limited to USB 1.1 which is much slower than 2.0
Of course if you're patient or do your backups unattended over night, it may work.
For the rest of us USB ext drives are very cheap. Just tonight I ordered a 1TB drive for $90. And USB flash drives (also called thumb drives) are only $72 for 32GB (USB 1.1 and 2.0).
It takes about 20 minutes to burn a 4.5GB dvd so that may be your best solution.
If you have only one physical drive you might consider a second drive to be used for backup storage. I bought a used 320GB drive off ebay $55 last friday midnight and had it in my hands on monday.
When my last week failure occurred I had good and bad luck. The drive was the second and didn't have my operating system or all the other programs. And I'm afraid that my backups were six months old.
First of all, the proposed solution of an external USB drive is not for you since W98 and W98SE does not support USB 2.0. I had W98SE for many years and looked hard for a software solution and there was none. You are limited to USB 1.1 which is much slower than 2.0
Of course if you're patient or do your backups unattended over night, it may work.
For the rest of us USB ext drives are very cheap. Just tonight I ordered a 1TB drive for $90. And USB flash drives (also called thumb drives) are only $72 for 32GB (USB 1.1 and 2.0).
It takes about 20 minutes to burn a 4.5GB dvd so that may be your best solution.
If you have only one physical drive you might consider a second drive to be used for backup storage. I bought a used 320GB drive off ebay $55 last friday midnight and had it in my hands on monday.
When my last week failure occurred I had good and bad luck. The drive was the second and didn't have my operating system or all the other programs. And I'm afraid that my backups were six months old.
piller
Gold Member
A few years ago the hard disk in my pc went bad. So I started to use a bootable linux liveCD to run my pc. It's free, it runs in RAM, no local hard drive is needed. I stored all my stuff online. I could access my stuff from any pc. I now have a pc with a hard disk that works, but anything I care about is stored online.
/pine
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with a very cool program you can make your own personalized/customized bootable Linux CD...it will have all your favorites/bookmarks...your e-mail configuration and any programs you like...it is like taking your desktop workstation anywhere with just a CD or DVD...or even a USB drive (most newer BIOS's will let you boot from a USB device)
What you do is...install Linux to a hard drive...then you set up your desktop with any customizations you want...remove any software you don't want and add any that you do...then all you do is run the "make live CD" program and it re-writes the bootstrap from the original LiveCD and makes an ISO image of your hard drive installation...then all you have to do is burn the ISO and you now have a live bootable CD or DVD of your desktop workstation that can be booted on just about any computer...it can also be set up on a USB/flash drive.
If anyone is interested in more information on this PM me...
/pine
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This is not so...you can easily install a USB 2.0 card on a Win98 (or even Win95) system...it just requires a 3rd party driver (which will come with the card)
natively it (Win98) won't support it but adding a 2.0 card is a snap...
OP
ultrarunner
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Would you have any specific recommendations?
At work, everything was windows 98se before going to XP.
One of the older 98 machines was overlooked and when it crashed the network guy removed the drive and installed it in a xp computer and saved the data... I was not there, but that is what I was told.
aczlan
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Try Ebay item# 260471570540, it is listed as working with Windows 98.
What probably happened is Windows stopped working, but the harddrive was fine, as such the XP computer could read the data without any problems (just like installing a 2nd harddrive) it was probbaly faster (and more useful) to copy the data off and install XP than to fix 98.
Aaron Z
/pine
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The great thing about Linux is...there as so many distributions and they are all getting updated on a regular basis...it is always state of the art...
dmccarty
Super Star Member
This was timely.
Dvds that last 1,000 years claimed - The Inquirer DVDs that last 1,000 years claimed
But you had better have deep pockets...
The Diamondiscs are only
Now what was of value in the story was the Kodak Gold Preservation Write-Once DVD-R that are supposed to last a 100 years or so for $6 per DVD. Or $74 for 50 on Amazon.
Later,
Dan
Dvds that last 1,000 years claimed - The Inquirer DVDs that last 1,000 years claimed
But you had better have deep pockets...
The Diamondiscs are only
Now what was of value in the story was the Kodak Gold Preservation Write-Once DVD-R that are supposed to last a 100 years or so for $6 per DVD. Or $74 for 50 on Amazon.
Later,
Dan
keegs
Veteran Member
Not sure if anyone mentioned mirroring.
I'm pretty sure most open source distributions of linux e.g. Fedora, Ubuntu, SUSE ....provide software raid (logical volume manager) to manage the disk(s).
If you want to stick with Windows and you're not running a server addition, you can go the hardware raid route with a raid controller and second disk. I think the Windows server additions offer sofware raid as part of the OS.
I'm pretty sure most open source distributions of linux e.g. Fedora, Ubuntu, SUSE ....provide software raid (logical volume manager) to manage the disk(s).
If you want to stick with Windows and you're not running a server addition, you can go the hardware raid route with a raid controller and second disk. I think the Windows server additions offer sofware raid as part of the OS.
brin
Super Member
My reason for not using on line back up service as much as I would love to is ..I just don't trust the security..just imagine all that you have on your computer and in this day and age with all that is going on to trust that out in cyber space is something I just can't do..Call me paranoid..I have a stand alone 300 gig hard drive as a back up .it cost $98.00 and I control it...I stess...I control it and that way I can sleep at night.
