RE: Is My Data DESTROYED?!

[adfas asd <chimera_god@yahoo.com>]

--- On Sun, 10/25/09, Leslie Rhorer <lrhorer@satx.rr.com> wrote:
>     Half the files I have lost on my video
> system were due to my
> personal errors.  Absolutely none were due to drive
> failures.  By a very
> wide margin, the most common cause of data loss is human
> error.  EVERY
> SINGLE FILE THAT HAS EVER BEEN LOST SINCE THE FIRST DIGITAL
> COMPUTER WAS
> BUILT HAS BEEN DUE TO THERE NOT BEING A VALID BACKUP.

Remember:  I, am not you.  I am trying to tell you *my* actual experience.


>     Here is the e-mail sent by the daily
> system backup:
>     What's obscure about that?

Well, it doesn't say for dead-bolt sure that there has been a backup and *full*incontravertible*successful*verify*.  If it does, it's not clear.  And what does it take to set up this emailed report?  And what backup system/script was used?


>  It's also a simple matter to run a
> compare between the two systems.  One can compare
> every single file, or for
> brevity one can easily compare only the most recently
> created files.

Yes yes, but how?


> > I can imagine setting up a fancy-pants backup
> > system then going about my life, and some quirk
> happens on the next update
> > which subtlely hoses my exotic backup system.  It
> is desirable to have
> > bolt-tight assurance of backed-up data.  (And
> please don't bore us with
> > 'nothing is for sure')
> 
>     Subtlely?  Such a thing is no more
> likely (less so, in fact) with
> the backup system than with the main system.  And what
> is with the
> characterization "exotic"?  Your backup system should
> be as plain vanilla as
> a system gets.  Load Debian (or whatever) with mail
> support, load the
> packages for NUT, rsync and ssh, configure them, and you're
> done.

Pfffff....
I don't understand how NUT plays into this.

>  Create
> the wakeup / backup script on the main system, and you're
> on your way.

Wakeup script?  What sort of backup script?  I gather that very few have ever set up a comprehensive remote NAS backup system like this.


> > Also I've noticed rsync mentioned several times. 
> This seems to have
> > facilities for incremental backups, but I've also read
> that it is non-
> > secure over networks and that we should use scp
> instead.
> 
>     It's secure if you use ssh with
> passphraseless keys as its transfer
> mechanism.  Why are you worried about it if this is a
> home LAN, though?  How
> is someone gong to sniff your LAN, especially the link
> between the two
> hosts?

I am told that use of OpenSSH vastly limits the bandwidth of the connection, due to encryption overhead.  Backups could cost more than 24 hours a day, and/or cut into CPU cycles needed for commercial-flagging.  So I'm looking for secure alternatives.

And no I'm not too concerned with someone sniffing my LAN, but if practical security can be had I always use it.  For example I set up reverse SSH tunnels for MythTV, MySQL, and Squid.  No it's not mandatory, and it is difficult, but it is best-practice.


> Unnecessary security
> notwithstanding, however, ssh with passphraseless keys is a
> great way to
> manage the remote system, so I suggest implementing it
> anyway.

Naturally I do, with the built-in security of NX. (nomachine.com)


>     Sure.  Lots of them.  I can't
> think of any more straightforward than
> rsync, though.

Lots?  OK, I am asking for alternatives.