I'm struggling to come up with a plan for making backups that is both effective and economical. I have 4 Gentoo systems:
1. strong local desktop 2. weak local desktop 3. laptop 4. hosted remote server I'd like to backup the important system and data files from each of these systems, plus my entire (growing) music collection which is stored on system #1. I'd like these backups to be safe in case of fire, theft, hard drive crash, etc. The system and data files are not a problem to encrypt, archive, store, and rsync across systems #1 and #4 because their size is relatively small. However, my music collection is big and growing and I'd like to have 1TB available for it. I'm not sure how to handle that. I could add a 1TB hard drive to system #4 for $375, and I do have plenty of monthly bandwidth there to spare so I won't be paying extra for that. That system is crucial for me though. Could involving that P4 1GB system in a daily rsync with system #1 requiring sometimes multiple GBs of transferred data slow it down? I would think the limiting factor would be system #1's bandwidth on a Suddenlink cable connection, so maybe that would keep things from getting bogged down on system #4? I looked into standalone backup solutions from my host and they have hefty monthly charges. I could set up NAS storage at a friend's place. We both have Suddenlink cable connections so the throughput should be alright. I don't like running a non-Gentoo system though, even if it is just NAS. Plus he uses a Netgear router which needs to be reset periodically. In addition, I think I would periodically backup the encrypted system and data files to DVD and store a copy in two locations. Any thoughts? - Grant
