On Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:05:49 +0000 Andy Smith <a...@strugglers.net> wrote:
> Hello, > > On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 07:58:14PM +0100, Tim Brocklehurst wrote: > > The real question, is whether to treat the backup as a mirror, or > > whether to keep older versions of files for a period of time. > > There is no question for me: If you don't have historical copies, > you don't have a backup. The most common data loss issues are human > error and if your sync time passes before that is noticed then you > don't have any backups of the data any more. I only rsync the current geneweb data to a second local system and to my VPS. IMHO historical copies would be meaningless as they would no longer be correct. Geneweb logs changes I make to the data but only the date/time and person concerned, so the log for part of this this days work looks like:- * 2011-08-01 16:00:51 (modify family) ... Eliza Hailes ca 1811 * 2011-08-01 15:58:00 (modify person) ... Eliza Hailes ca 1811 * 2011-08-01 15:49:06 (modify person) ... Eliza Hailes ca 1811 * 2011-08-01 15:48:44 (modify person) ... John Richardson ca 1809-1849 * 2011-08-01 15:45:55 (modify person) ... Eliza Hailes ca 1811 * 2011-08-01 15:37:47 (add family) ... Eliza Hailes ca 1811 * 2011-08-01 15:36:27 (modify family) ... Thomas Hailes 1770-1847 * 2011-08-01 15:29:46 (modify person) ... Mary Smith ca 1828-1880 * 2011-08-01 15:24:59 (modify family) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 15:23:52 (modify person) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 15:17:47 (add family) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 15:16:11 (modify person) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 15:10:08 (modify person) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 15:09:09 (modify family) ... Ellen Hailes ca 1847 * 2011-08-01 15:08:56 (add family) ... Ellen Hailes ca 1847 * 2011-08-01 15:01:06 (modify person) ... Ellen Hailes ca 1847 * 2011-08-01 14:57:44 (modify person) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 14:52:00 (change children's names) ... Joseph Hailes ca 1822-ca 1908 * 2011-08-01 14:51:31 (modify person) ... Emma.0 Hails * 2011-08-01 14:49:50 (modify person) ... Elizabeth Kernutt 1826-ca 1851 > No argument that most problems are quickly fixed by having an > additional copy of data immediately to hand, because most problems > are detected quickly. But data loss events are rare catastrophic > occurrences anyway, so the argument that it will almost always be > good enough is not, er, good enough. :) I only need to be able to restore data in the event of a system failing completely and having two copies, one local* and one remote seems safe enough to me. *I actually use geneweb's built-in backup utility to create a backup file each time I do an rsync and copy that file to a third desktop system at home and to two laptops as well so a 'belts and braces' approach. The 'backup' file can be used to recreate the database on any system with geneweb installed. So far as my VPS is concerned I have utilised the available Bitfolk backup service, which does make historical copies I believe, and trust that I'll be able to restore stuff that is only on the VPS in the event of something failing. It did work when I needed to install a clean copy of Debian recently. -- John Lewis using Debian sid -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
