Comments on: The cost of backups http://sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/ Computing, education, and some embedded bits Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:43:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Matt http://sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1229 Matt Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:54:48 +0000 http://www.sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1229 Absolutely true. I'm looking for something that is a compromise between simplicity to implement (for the end-user) and a back-end that scales in cost with usage. As I discover the limitations of the solutions I implement, I'll find better solutions that are more refined. Ultimately, I want something that "does the right thing" that requires minimal effort to set up, and minimal effort to maintain. I don't want to be a sysadmin for every machine I touch, just to guarantee a bit of data safety. And ultimately, I have to be able to deploy my solution (largely unattended) on my wife's laptop, and both her parent's machine and my parent's machine. There are no rsync-based solutions for the Mac (that I know of) that I can just "install and walk away from" that will do the job. So, I keep searching for the compromise that works best. Absolutely true. I’m looking for something that is a compromise between simplicity to implement (for the end-user) and a back-end that scales in cost with usage.

As I discover the limitations of the solutions I implement, I’ll find better solutions that are more refined. Ultimately, I want something that “does the right thing” that requires minimal effort to set up, and minimal effort to maintain. I don’t want to be a sysadmin for every machine I touch, just to guarantee a bit of data safety. And ultimately, I have to be able to deploy my solution (largely unattended) on my wife’s laptop, and both her parent’s machine and my parent’s machine. There are no rsync-based solutions for the Mac (that I know of) that I can just “install and walk away from” that will do the job.

So, I keep searching for the compromise that works best.

]]> By: Ben http://sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1228 Ben Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:03:15 +0000 http://www.sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1228 Databases are not going to go away just because people are starting to get backup religion. ID3 information in audio files is another example of the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale. Changing the metadata currently requires the entire file to be backed up again. The solution to this problem will be better backup tools, which can do binary deltas, like rsync does. Databases are not going to go away just because people are starting to get backup religion.

ID3 information in audio files is another example of the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale. Changing the metadata currently requires the entire file to be backed up again.

The solution to this problem will be better backup tools, which can do binary deltas, like rsync does.

]]> By: Matt http://sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1227 Matt Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:19:04 +0000 http://www.sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1227 Actually, I'm starting to think that way... also for my pile-o-files that I keep for reference. Using a local Subversion repository that gets hit by the S3 sync might be a good solution. I could also write a script that swaps the SQLite DBs around; they're just one file, in a fixed location. In fact, using something like Tapir (Google for it; you'll find it on the same site as Platypus) I could easily make my own drop-down Apple menubar item for this. The point being, I could have one DB for little stuff, and one for big stuff. So, yeah, there's a bunch of ways to work around this. :) Actually, I’m starting to think that way… also for my pile-o-files that I keep for reference. Using a local Subversion repository that gets hit by the S3 sync might be a good solution.

I could also write a script that swaps the SQLite DBs around; they’re just one file, in a fixed location. In fact, using something like Tapir (Google for it; you’ll find it on the same site as Platypus) I could easily make my own drop-down Apple menubar item for this. The point being, I could have one DB for little stuff, and one for big stuff.

So, yeah, there’s a bunch of ways to work around this. :)

]]> By: Dave G http://sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1226 Dave G Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:55:56 +0000 http://www.sububi.org/2007/02/14/the-cost-of-backups/#comment-1226 Here's a geeky thought. What if... you backed up your Yojimbo file to an SVN repository, and backed up the repository to S3? Presumably when you commit Yojimbo, SVN would only grow by one delta. That way the cost of transfer would be cheap. Here’s a geeky thought. What if… you backed up your Yojimbo file to an SVN repository, and backed up the repository to S3? Presumably when you commit Yojimbo, SVN would only grow by one delta. That way the cost of transfer would be cheap.

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