[mythtv-users] REMINDER: Back Up Your Database.

[Jay Ashworth]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen P. Villano" <stephen.p.villano at gmail.com>

> Been where the other poster has been at home and worse, at two places
> I worked at that failed to backup files that were later found to be
> important.
> Since then, I backup, that backup gets scooped into another backup
> *and* as Andrew does, a backup goes to another networked server.
> 
> Good old joke that is true:
> How do you backup a SAN?
> To another SAN.

My Commercial Backup Rule:

It's not "backed up", until it's on at least 4 pieces of media, in at 
least 3 cities, in at least two states.  One copy is permitted to be
spinning magnetic media; one copy is permitted to be consumer optical.
Flash drives are Right Out.

This of course means that cloud backup is your one spinning-magnetic,
and implies that at least 2 copies must be on business-grade tape; DLT-IV
or better; I generally recommend as much LTO as you can afford, these
days.

For my largest client in 1998, backing up to DC-600 tapes, it was:

Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu

Fri 1, Fri 2, Fri 3, [Fri 4]

EOW 1, EOW 2, EOW 3, [EOW 4]

EOQ 1, EOQ 2, EOQ 3

EOY *before all closeouts* and EOY *after all closeouts*.

Yes, that was 16 tapes (actually 20, since the day of week tapes were 
all A/B'd), but it gave us lots of safety and flexibility.

Friday tapes went out of building on Monday; monthly tapes went
up to their Lecanto or Tampa office and vice versa.

Really: back up your stuff, people.  :-)

[ PS: I have tapes from that era that *still* restore ok, and I also once
restored one that my boss threw into a gypsum wall so hard it *stuck*. ]

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       jra at baylink.com
Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates     http://baylink.pitas.com         2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA               #natog                      +1 727 647 1274