+1 -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:mailvor...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 6:46 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: SOHO: Data storage, RAID levels, backups, VMs, etc. (was: SPAM Solution)
On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 2:20 AM, tony patton<tony.pat...@quinn-insurance.com> wrote: > I rebuild my desktop at home roughly every six months just for the fun of > it, it's a lot less hassle than removing all the crap I install to take a > look at. Old answer: That is why they invented partition imaging. Image your system/software partition, do your tests, then restore after. Keep all your data on a separate partition, so don't have to blow that away. New answer: That is why they invented virtual machines. Do your testing in a VM, and revert the VM's virtual disk after. :-) On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 9:16 AM, tony patton<tony.pat...@quinn-insurance.com> wrote: > ... had 2 500Gb drive in raid 0 in my desktop ... Yikes! RAID 0 means your chance of failure is multiplied by the number of drives. And given bit failure rates and the size of disks these days, the chance of failure approaches 100% for a single drive. RAID 0 might have had limited application in speed critical situations back when disks were wicked freaking expensive. These days, I'd never ever use it. If I needed the speed and storage capacity that badly, I'd do RAID 10 (striped array of mirrors). > ... had 75% of the stuff copied onto it when 1 of the 500's died ... Chances are, it was already bad, you just didn't notice because you hadn't read from that block in a while. Patrol reads are your friend. > ... Mac and an external hard drive to backup to, but > still getting her to backup is a nightmare and all she has to do is connect > the external and the Mac does it automatically for her. A backup solution that requires end-user action is doomed to failure. I recommend scripting something on the laptop that will automatically sync changes to a networked file server on a schedule, or whenever the network is available, or whatever. -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
