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I'm sure I've been unlucky but on the two occasions I've seen a raid 5 system fail, it's been the controller that's failed, not the drive and it's managed to destroy all of the data on all of the disks.
Making a copy is good, but I'd make sure that the copy exists on a different computer using totally separate hardware, preferably on a different site in case of theft or fire or something.
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This is a common, but also very risky way to do backups. Among all those really good arguments against it like deleting the wrong file, virus infections, stolen machine, burning office and so on, there is also another important thing:
Maybe you won't believe it, but it is true: Most hard disk failures are due to corrupt power supply, overheating, shock and other similar non-intrinsic problems. And in this cases it is very probable, that both disks die at nearly the same time! (This is also the reason why a RAID disk array is never an alternative for backups.)
A good backup neads at least 3 generations of indipendent medias, that are not phyiscally connected to the machine and at least one of them should reside in a fire resistant safe or at a remote place. If you love and need your data, you should really think twice about your backup strategy!
--
Daniel Lohmann
http://www.losoft.de
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All my company projects live on a remote SourceSafe database anyway, which I assume gets backed up everyday by the Net Admins. Any backup that I do are all personal stuff (email etc) that possibly shouldn't be there in the first place
-chinster-
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I class this as 'living on the edge'.
What happens if you get a virus, or screw up a file that then gets mirrored to the other machine, or you have a fire in your office, or a lightning strike, or...or...
cheers,
Chris Maunder
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When we release a new version, we also make a backup of the code tree to help insure that if required we can always rebuild that specific version.
We also do weekly backups of everything and use sorcesafe.
Tim Smith
I know what you're thinking punk, you're thinking did he spell check this document? Well, to tell you the truth I kinda forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this here's CodeProject, the most powerful forums in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?
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I use SourceSafe with the database on a different machine, so I at least have two copies. That's not even counting the history which can be really close to current.
Then the server gets backed up nightly. First to a network storage array and then to digital tape. Then once a week the DAT tapes get picked up and stored in a safty deposit box. I should have a copies of everything available in case of a disaster. 
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It depends on the size of the disaster. Should a plane-crash occur on your building (I surely hope it does not) do you have the safty deposit box.
Best regards,
Alexandru Savescu
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There may be two answers to that:
Just say that on my personal computer (where I don't do too much coding, but have a lot of data I would not like to loose), I am not doing enough backup. It is as much a matter of time than a matter of thinking about it. When it come to save data that is spread all over a lot of directories, it is not something you do in a few minutes. 
For my professional computer, NEVER. It is done on daily basis (I think) by the system engineer, but I never care about it my self. I do in a way by using source safe, as the base is on a network computer, but more because of the configuration management thing than for a backup purpose  .
Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and hand guns.
- Carl Gundlach
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Our stuff gets backed up daily through our main server. But this has only recently been on-line.
People who may remember me impersonating another user when my hard disk suffered internal mechanical failure last year some time will know I suffered from a backup nightmare around then. Fortunately, through the help of a data recovery house, my skin was saved...... and also my data/code.
Roger Allen
Sonork 100.10016
If I had a quote, it would be a very good one.
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Our SourceSafe data base sits on the company network, which is backed up nightly. Independant of this, I've got a separate box that copies/ZIPs the DB nightly to a file with a name based on the date. I keep the 10 most recent days. I have three rotating sets of the 10 files on removable media. At any given time, this gives me three sources of the DB for the last 10 days, and a fourth if I'm desperate (the backup by the IT folks).
On top of all that, I backup my working directories to a Zip disk and take them home at night.
Is this anal-retentive, or what?
"Think of it as evolution in action." - 'Oath of Fealty' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
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So your pretty safe unless you get hit by the cat burglar...
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All my source code is held on a UNIX CVS server which is backed up daily (with off site copies, etc. - the full works). I backup any code that hasn't been committed to CD-RW every couple of days. Creating a new system would involve installing MSVC and then checking out the latest copies of my apps. Works well.
Faith. Believing in something you *know* isn't true.
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I'm a bit fanatical about backups - I remember the good old days of CP/M when disater and data loss always seemed to be around the corner
I backup all modified files daily and then do a full backup each Sunday, so at any time I have about 4 months of backups if needed. I've been using an OnStream tape drive for about 3 years - Although a bit expensive, its turned out to be the best bit of kit I've ever bought as its saved my life on more than one occasion.
The other worthwhile investment has been a UPS power supply, my location in North Wales is quite prone to thunder storms and power outages so the UPS has been invaluable
Not that I'm paranoid or anything
JohnJ
http://www.rainbow-innov.co.uk
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I used to (attempt to) use the MS Backup Utility supplied with Win2K. I found it to be a real pain (especially the restore), with the result that I hardly ever used it.
Then, about a year ago I discovered that there was a WinZip command line client which allows Zip files to be created very easily from batch files or scripts.
As a result, I now have a set of simple batch files/scripts which zip up the contents of user accounts, the source code control database etc. etc.
I've found the way to ensure it happens regularly is to run it as a scheduled task overnight. As the zipfiles created end up in a "backup" folder on the disk of my laptop, it's a simple matter to blat the contents off to the server in the morning or cut them to a CD-R or CD-RW as required.
Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++
"I would be careful in separating your wierdness, a good quirky weirdness, from the disturbed wierdness of people who take pleasure from PVC sheep with fruit repositories."
- Paul Watson
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The problem of this approach (and nearly all those nice little shareware backup utilities) is, that is does not take care of all those NTFS specific stuff: ACLs, hardlinks, softlinks, alternate file streams (like the file metadata on XP), sparse files, compression attributes and so on - everything that is not plain FAT compatible is lost!
It depends if this is a problem or not. Usually one uses only very few of these features. However, the problem is that most people even don't know about this problem. They use a backup utility that seems to work fine and never recognize that, for example, all security settings are lost after a restore. Or that a hardlinked file is now simply duplicated and therefore wastes space and - even worse - leads to inconsistencies. Or ...
I don't like NTBackup either, but I was not able to find an (affordable) alternative, yet.
Daniel
--
Daniel Lohmann
http://www.losoft.de
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Very true. Since I use it this approach for individual user account data (documents, mail and favourites, mainly), NTFS specific attributes aren't an issue for me - although they may be for others.
I wouldn't advocate this approach for a complete machine backup - but it is very handy for user documents. 
Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++
"I would be careful in separating your wierdness, a good quirky weirdness, from the disturbed wierdness of people who take pleasure from PVC sheep with fruit repositories."
- Paul Watson
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I mean , it wouldn't happen to me would it.
So what's the point.
Regardz
Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me
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Never tease God, son.
"Think of it as evolution in action." - 'Oath of Fealty' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
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Fortunately only to you... My data matters to me, I back it up daily. Not worth my job otherwise... and I like playing Counterstrike at lunchtime
Polymorph
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And you are really sure you put enough of your income into the offertory bag?
--
Daniel Lohmann
http://www.losoft.de
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Colin Davies wrote:
it wouldn't happen to me
Whos taking bets, my money is on a disaster of some sort by the end of the month
- Matt Newman / Windows XP Activist
-Sonork ID: 100.11179
"You can't seriously believe that you could get away with suing someone over quoting text from a message posted in a public forum, can you?" - John Simmons
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Belive me sometimes it does.
Best regards,
Alexandru Savescu
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About once a week (which reminds me, it's time...) I put my code and email onto a zip disk.
The only other stuff I back up is downloaded software and media (pics, MP3, etc). When a dir /s /a:a shows 600 MB of unarchived stuff, I put the new downloads onto a CD.
--Mike--
Just released - RightClick-Encrypt v1.3 - Adds fast & easy file encryption to Explorer
My really out-of-date homepage
Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
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...after i've already lost the data once, and have had to re-enter it from memory... 
Someday, i'll get around to being a responsible, organized person...
- Shog9 - Aaah... It's time to relax. You know what that means: a glass of beer, your favorite ergo chair... And of course, The Code Project loaded on your Personal Computer System. So go on, and indulge yourself, put your feet up. Lean back and just enjoy the articles. After all, CP sooths even the savage ![Green Alien | [Alien]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/alien.gif)
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Shog9 wrote:
Someday, i'll get around to being a responsible, organized person...
I used to think that when I was at high school, then I just realised that some people just don't need to do all the extra work. If they can bum their way through life, why can't I?!
(to those unaware of my new ratings system, this is a joke)
"Life, as well as software, has bugs." - Roger Wright
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