Data backup
 

I currently back all my data up to DVDs. Long long ago, I started with CDRs, upgraded to DVD-Rs, then double sided DVD-Rs and eventually dual layer disks. The next step is obviously BD-R(bluray).

Is there software for Slackware that is capable of burning, and reading, BD-R disks? I understand that movies are a completely different deal, but I only want to burn my own data and then be able to read it back when I want it.

Since I'll be starting this process fresh, I'd also like to catalog all these new BD-R disks I create. I haven't done it with previous media, but now that the disks are becoming overwhelming and it's very difficult to find things now, a catalog type program that can automatically catalog these things would be great! Any suggestions?

I currently use Slackware64, 13.1, NO MULTILIB.

I do not have a BD drive :( however - cdrecord supports BD burning, and by extension so does every GUI that hooks into cdrecord (K3B).
June 4th 2007, Cdrecord adds the first Blu Ray support http://cdrecord.berlios.de/private/cdrecord.html

For cataloging my media I use gwhere, it's GTK-1 and looks like butt - but it does EXACTLY what I need it to. http://www.gwhere.org/home.php3?idLanguage=en

Hmmm - I would think that the current cost of BD discs would not make that such an obvious step. Personally I backup to external USB and eSata drives using rsync. A slightly older drive (say <1.0 TB) is pretty cheap these days, the speed is still awesome (esp when using rsync :-). And you can easily implement this using 2 or 3 drives, with the latest one being sent over the road to your friendly neighbour for safekeeping (fire/theft).

yea harddisks are the way to go . if one pack with LOTS of dvd is like 20$ , and the last time i backed up 10 GB of photos to dvds , i already used like 5-6 dvds . that mean , that for 100GB you'd need at least 2 packs of many dvds. if you have even more data then you'll need even more ...

but with a 1TB hardddisk now being like in the range of the 100$ then that's the best way to go.

If you really wish to ensure data integrity and no sudden alternation of data or unrecoverable files, avoid any CD-R or DVD-R ..

The CD-R is a better media, it's durability is far better than DVD-R especially on expensive media such as Verbatim ..

If you still wish to use burnable media read this first:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

Other than that, 1TB harddisks alone can still make errors from time to time, especially if they haven't been running for a while .. I recommend that you look at some RAID NAS device with space sufficient for your most critical backups and personal files. It's the only way to ensure that your data has 100% integrity ..

That's pretty much true - but there are ways to over come most of the deficiencies associated with optical media.

First, there's the cost factor. Verbatim MCC 100 pack DVDR ~$20 USD. 100x4.3GiB=430GiB. So, for a little more than 1TiB of optical storage, this will cost ~$60. Which is little less than a standard 1TiB hard drive. But if you want raid, you'll need more drives.

Secondly, Optical media is reliable, especially DVD-/+R. When the discs are handled and stored properly, they will last for years. I still have many DVD-Rs that I burnt ~10 years when I purchased my first Pioneer A03.

To ensure reliability of the media, I add par2 files to the disc, and verify the burnt data about 2-3 times a year. This isn't to say it's fool proof, but optical media is a reliable and practical backup medium. If anyone thinks you can shove a bunch of data on a RAID array and think it's safe forever, doesn't have much experience with hard drives nor raid arrays.

There's two kinds of people out there. Those that make practical backups, and those that wish they did :)
RAID is not a backup method. It is a data integrity method.

One must remember that the entire act of doing backups should be quick and easy. Preferably a simple click or script. If it becomes a major issue of loading more than 1 disc (cd/dvd/bd) and having to do lots of pointy-clicky things, then human nature dictates that it won't be done often.

The golden rule for backup is simple - how much are you prepared to lose right NOW. ie if your disk crashed (or was stolen), you will lose all data since your last backup (and the stuff you never backed up). I only backup personal data and the hard configuration stuff (ie /etc/*). A restore will mean a full system install and then a quick copy all from my USB drive (I have several). I've done this before and it's easy. I seldom backup the big stuff like movies. I can get it back easily from other sources, and my life is not diminished in any way if I can't get back a copy of the Matrix (eg).

An HDD is more risky than a disc in my opinion. I can burn a disc, verify a disc, test it, put it away and it's good. I could even make two copies just in case. The drive, will fail, it's just a matter of when. With a RAID type option, that's an expensive proposition when you have 1 drive fail, you better have a back up ready before another one fails...or if the motherboard fails that the raid is attached to, or if the card fails and you don't have a backup. Also, the bigger the drives, or RAID, the more you lose when it fails. Buying all the drives for a RAID at the same time can cause issues as if one has a fault, the others from the same batch could have the same fault.

If I scratch a disk, I lose only a part of that data, or at worst, 8.5gb.

I've gone through many HDD crashes and I've been able to replace my data easily by just copying my disks back to the drive partition.

I've yet to have any disc unreadable before I copied it back onto my PC and burned it to a newer, higher capacity, medium.

BD-R disks have come down in price. You can get 20 25GB BD-R disks now for $35. 500GB. A little more expensive than a HD, but more reliable in my opinion.

If I lose the drive in some way(power surge, failure, motherboard failure, drive corruption), I lose all the data. The discs just sit in storage till I need them.

It still has a probability of failure. I'd need to back up the RAID device as well, unless I have drives ready to go when it fails, or hardware ready to go when it fails. If I was a big corporation, I would do that. I'm just a guy with too much data I want to keep. Optical media is the easier way to go for me, and seems to be more reliable than mechanical/electical devices.

If your drive supports burning BD-R, then it will work. However, I don't do it because prices are still too high, and I don't really have that much to backup. If you have a 1 TB drive, you probably do have a lot to backup.

Funny how a question that states "can I backup on BR" turns into a discussion about costs of backup.

The golden rule posted is indeed simple, yet I would like to expand it to: "How much is my data worth, How much (effort) would it cost me to retrieve it and how long may it take, and what is the chance of any issue occurring"

DVD, CD, BR they're all fairly expensive with the amounts of data we normally have on our systems nowadays.
(External) harddisks are fairly cheap in that comparison; having someone live nearby you can exchange your disks with for offsite storage will prevent in many cases the most common things that can happen to your data.

Harddisks may fail (yet that's not as common as pictured out) especially if they're handled with some measure of care (eg: don't toss with them). If you do your backup on a weekly basis, then the amount of data you could lose in case the backup media fails would amount to 2 weeks or so. It's very unlikely that both your external disks fail at the same time.

Raid is a nice solution, however it fails when your house just burned down (and likely took the disks with it, as raid is not very flexible for offsite storage... you could, but that would be an expensive solution and overdoing it for a 0.00000000001 promille chance of being required ... that's really a risk you may safely take)

There's a reason why companies go for tape storage: tape is cheap, fast, reliable (for the short term), small (thus very portable).

So you can choose your backup medium on these criteria.

1) Check up with a friend to setup a remote storage exchange
2) Make your backup (add par2 files for possible write errors)
3) Check your backup
4) Exchange backups with your friend
5) agree to verify each other's backup if possible

for the next week you use your other backup medium, and you exchange both your old backup and your friend's. You're pretty much set, unless bombs are being dropped on both your house and your friend's, a big flooding destroys everything, or an earthquake. If such things are pretty likely to happen, you could try to setup an rsync or something with an even more remote friend. Bandwidth will be your limitation, thus choosing what data to backup and what not will be a good choice.

"We" ? I don't belong to this group. I know "we", as in many people out there, have 10x 1 TB drives storing their massive * collection, but I do not. I have a 160 GB drive, and I usually only use 60-70 GB of it and backup when it gets more full. DVDs are perfectly adequate for this.

HDDs are not a method of backing up data, IMO. They can fail unexpectedly, at any time. I recommend removable disk media.

It's true that by putting your data in more than one place, it's unlikely that they will all fail at once ... except, of course, unless you take into account Murphy-like laws.

In my work I have found USB hard disks particularly susceptible to failure, which I attribute to power issues. I could be wrong but a USB disk is the last thing I'd use for backup. Taiyo Yuden DVDs for small amounts of data; and one or two Samsung 3.5" 5400 EcoGreen HDDs stuck inside an old box under the bed with a good-quality power supply for bigger amounts. Rsync over a wired or wireless connection.

While you don't have 10* 1TB drives, neither do I. 560GB works for me so far.

Generally I make a distinction about my data:
1) Very important (generally private stuff that is not reproducable; wedding photos come to mind)
2) Important (hard to reproduce, not (next to) impossible)
3) Practical (saves enough time to reproduce, but don't really depend on it)
4) Unimportant (stuff you can download anywhere)

1) I store on 2 separate portable hdds as well as the wife's computer.
2) I store on the separate portable hdds
3) just a backup copy on the same disk
4) not stored at all, subject to regular cleanup actions

I do this for a few years now, and still have the original external hdds, which have been used heavily. It's proven to be reliable enough for me, low budget, fast. The chance that both my, my wife's computer and both external harddisks as well as my system fail simultaneously is too small; The costs involved to counter this risk are too high for the average person that I am ;-)