On Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 11:42:54AM +0000, Cotty scripsit: > Which would be better? > > I have a main external hard drive used as a scratch disk and for holding > files for video editing. It gets backed up regularly (using SuperDuper - > backup software) to a second drive for redundancy. Every few months or > so I figure it is a good idea to wipe the main external HD completely > and reinstall the backed up files. The question is, which would be better:
Nice lady at Google got a *huge* data set on disk reliability and crunched it. Essential take home point -- 3 copies, on 3 different spindles, or you WILL lose it. So, first up, you've got only 2 copies. You're going to experience catastrophic data loss sometime. You probably don't want that. So you need a 3rd external drive. (Different maker for the enclosure and the drive if you can swing it.) Second, _why_ do you think deleting and replacing is a good idea? OS X uses a file system where you shouldn't have to worry about fragmentation in any way. Third, if what you want is a complete wipe, don't delete files; format the disk. -- Graydon -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
