LinuxQuestions.org

LinuxQuestions.org (/questions/)
-   General (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/)
-   -   Good bye data, good bye 8 years worth of stuff. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/good-bye-data-good-bye-8-years-worth-of-stuff-566960/)

Jeebizz 07-05-2007 06:32 PM

Good bye data, good bye 8 years worth of stuff.
 
Well, I have now just experienced the worst data loss ever. I have (or had I should say) an external drive, with all of my pictures (vacation), movies, and mp3 collection for the past oh I don't know, 8 fscking years!! (MP3: 113GB). Anyways, I kept hearing about my friend's issue with recordable media, and so thats why about a year ago, I bought an external hd, to keep it all on that. Well, until today, everything was great, until I turned it on to retrieve data off of it. As soon as I did, I was greeted by a very lovely ear piercing chainsaw like sound, I have no way of getting at the data now. Approximately, 260, out of 300GB, GONE!:eek: :mad: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I would have also archived to recordable media, but I just don't have any right now, so yes I'm very well much fscked. I went online, and looked at recovery services, fsck they don't come cheap, $750 to $2000,:eek: I don't have that kind of money. At this point I am just asking myself, and wondering, if ever I do buy another external, what is the best reliable recordable media to buy? If I have to, next time I should make extra copies, and keep it in a dry, cool area, in avault somewhere, not just an external hd.

I need a stiff drink, where's that bottle of Jack Daniels? :cry: :cry: :cry:

AceofSpades19 07-05-2007 07:05 PM

the morale to the story, keep everything backed up

Jeebizz 07-05-2007 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AceofSpades19
the morale to the story, keep everything backed up
Sorry if I seem to be lashing out at you, but isn't that what an external drive is for!? :scratch:

undeaf 07-05-2007 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeebizz
Sorry if I seem to be lashing out at you, but isn't that what an external drive is for!? :scratch:

If it's your only copy it's just archived, not backed up.

This makes me wondere what condition all my CDRs are. The CMC magnetics manufactured ones are probably completely deteriorated. Most of the riteks probably have errors. I better check the maxells and yudens to make sure at least those are fine.

Jeebizz 07-05-2007 07:46 PM

Ironically I had most of my pictures and MP3s on CDs, but these CDs were relatively old, not scratched, good decent brands, and I had a hard time getting data off of some of them. Which makes me wonder, is there really such a thing as an archival quality CD/DVD-R? Or Maybe I should send my data to some company that can make me stamped discs rather than burned disks?

Luckily for most if not all the pictures, I have other friends and family that I can get copies from, but as far as the music and movies, gone, and misc. data over time that I held on to, gone. I specifically bought the damn thing so I wouldn't worry about 'laser rot' on recordable media, and it's not like I used the thing every day, and I never left it on when not in use either. I just don't get it.

Mega Man X 07-05-2007 08:10 PM

I feel sorry for you Jeebizz. I also have two external, USB-HD's (one Samsung and one Western Digital) and I can feel they won't last long. Both get extremely hot when in use. The WD one can sound weird sometimes when spinning.

In Windows (unsure how it will behave in Linux), the HD is automatically turned off after a couple of minutes. That is bad. Think about you watching a movie. Then you feel like grabbing a coke and pausing the movie. When you come back, you resume the movie and the HD was stopped and has to start spinning again. I bet that the way they run hot and often start/stop can't do any good.

I think you should make backups of your important things to DVD's. New DVD's are supposed to be reliable (or more than they were a while back anyway). Just make sure to make two copies, with different brands for irreplaceable data (family pictures and movies). Don't bother with MP3 and movies, you can always download them again. It takes time, but it is, as I consider, replaceable.

By the way, what HD was it? So we all can avoid buying it in the future? :)

Jeebizz 07-05-2007 08:20 PM

The HD was a Seagate, and normally I read only good reviews of those. Actually about that shutdown, most if not all external HD shut off (well don't shut off completely, but go into powersave mode) when not being used. Mine did that after 5 minutes of inactivity, but when I streamed movies off it, there was no interruption what so ever. As far as the movies, yea I could always recopy those, but even the MP3s I'm disappointed, because some of them were MP3s I downloaded years ago, that are next to impossible to find, (some Japanese Rock music, off of now defunct WinMX). I know that there are some MP3s that I will probably never see(listen to) again.

undeaf 07-05-2007 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeebizz
Which makes me wonder, is there really such a thing as an archival quality CD/DVD-R?

I think so, sort of, if you keep switching to the current type of disk. The good ones should have / should have had a good chance of lasting for as long as it took for DVDs to get as cheap as CDs or as long as it'll take for Blu ray or HDDVDs to get cheap. Of course, the manufacturer is not always the same as the brand.

I'm very wary of any hard drive without a fan, as well as frequent spin ups. Of course, that can only do so much.

chickenjoy 07-05-2007 08:33 PM

One way to avoid this is to have a dedicated file computer with RAID1 (mirroring).

Jeebizz 07-05-2007 08:40 PM

Well, if recordable media can't even last 5 years after it's been burned, I don't see whats the point in using them much. The theory is that they have a 100 year lifespan, some theory if they can't even last not even a quarter of that. For fscks sake, its not like I've been using zip discs, now those things are just terrible, completely unreliable. I know that there is flash now, but come on, lets be realistic, 250GB? Its more feasible to backup on one of the two things, either recordable media (DVD), or an external HD. Now whats the use if neither is reliable? There is no such thing as a reliable backup method then. :mad:

undeaf 07-05-2007 08:48 PM

Well, there is magneto optical. But some CDRs can last more than 5 years. I'll check my really old ones.

Does anyone know if there's anything like nero scandisk for linux?

St.Jimmy 07-05-2007 08:50 PM

the light impressions, among other places, sells gold, guaranteed to last 50 years cd-rs.

And on the offchance it is ntfs, I have a really good rec program, and if it's fat, try getdataback for FAT.

Mega Man X 07-05-2007 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeebizz
There is no such thing as a reliable backup method then. :mad:

That's is correct. 100% correct actually. Everything can fail and according to the Murphy laws, if it never fails, something must be wrong LOL :).

I'm pretty sure I have CD's much older than 5 years old which I kept in the basement and are still working though. Now, the amount of HD's that died on me are quite alarming. If one CD is not working, that means I have to replace 700MB of data. That is not that bad. If a HD fails, we are talking about 100, 200, 300 GB or more.

I mean, HD's have rotating parts. That is what sucks. Everything that runs/spin/turn or have magnetic crap will wear out faster. I'd really consider either DVD's or RAID for backup.

But as you said yourself, there really is no reliable way to backup stuff. And wait until one day, you lose your stuff and your backup won't work. That will sure make you mad :D. It is important to backup and test backups periodically to make sure they can be restored, when needed.

Jorophose 07-05-2007 09:09 PM

Tape archives, tape archives, tape archives, tape archives, tape archives, I can say it till we all turn blue. :)

They're supposed to be #1, and from what my friends who use them tell me, they really are that good.

But you should be fine with RAID1 and a weekly DVD-backup. Hard drives eventually fail, it's in their nature.

At like 10$ for a spindle of 25-50 (Depending on who made it), it's really not that expensive. If you have the cash, go for DVDRW, but even then, the RW capabilities eventually die...

But I'm still pretty sure CDs and DVDs can survive a long amount of time (~10 years) if properly stored (So in their own little cases in a box somewhere) and not used all the time.

Crito 07-05-2007 09:32 PM

I'm still using 10 year old CD-Rs and CD-RWs. They weren't even stored particularly carefully, just in their jewel cases. Memorex brand FWIW...


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:28 PM.