deko said:
Just to be clear:
To recover my data in case of disaster, I plan to reinstall Windows
XP on my System disk, and then copy all my data from my Backup disk
to my System disk. All data and system files reside on my System
disk; the only thing I use the Backup disk for is a secondary copy of
my data (only data), periodically copied from my System disk.
The exercise at hand is to somehow find a way to make my backup
system fail.
Even if the motherboard in my PC were to meltdown and take my System
disk with it, I could still buy a new PC and simply connect my Backup
disk to it and recover all my data! This system is bulletproof!!
Unless your backup disk goes bad and you do not know it.
It happens - trust me.
Nothing is "bulletproof" when it comes to computers (or life for that
matter.)
The trouble with your backup system as I see it - you are putting all of the
eggs - including the backup egg - in one basket. No external/removable
media involved here. Your bulletproof backup system can be eliminated by
one powerful surge (yes - they can get through UPS systems) or physical
damage/loss of the one containing PC case.
You really need some form of "off-site" storage. Whether that is a DVD you
burn once a week/month (time-frame up to you) or a tape backup
system/external hard drive system you store elsewhere.. (I personally like
the network hard drives from companies like Ximeta - I can backup to a drive
elsewhere on my network with no attached computer - and that drive can be
used via USB or network and is just like any other external hard drive in
that aspect.)
"Making" your current backup system fail should not be the central concern.
Having it all contained in one box - making it more likely that something
will happen to that one location should be. Sure - if your CPU melts and
somehow only affects one hard drive that is directly connected to it - your
system is "bulletproof", but why would it only affect that one directly
connected drive.. what magic wall protects your second internal hard drive
from the same damage? Backing up to external media is the best bet.
Storing a copy of that external media away from that main system helps
insure you are not left high-and-dry in case something happens, it gets
stolen, etc. Sure - you can still use your internal drive to
hardware/software mirror the first drive - that's great; however, anything
that happens to the system that can fry the first drive physically has just
as much chance to fry the second internal drive in that system.
If you are trying to simulate a failure - do it smartly. Ghost a copy of
your working bootable partition. Then wipe it. That best simulates a
complete disaster. As you say yourself that the second drive is not even
really a mirror - but a DATA ONLY backup drive - that simulates it
perfectly. You have NO OS - now you have to follow through your disaster
recovery plan - reinstall Windows XP, all of your applications and
patches/drivers and then restore your data from the secondary drive. You
could even speed up that process by making integrated Windows XP SP2/patches
CD and even add the applications to it - possibly even make a DVD instead
that does all of the installation of all your common applications for you
(
http://unattended.msfn.org) - so you won't "forget something" or start out
with a vulnerable/unpatched system.
If you want to know how a software glitch could mess up your data only
backup drive - I don't see anything on your suggestions that would do it.
All of those things make the boot drive possibly fail - but doubtful they
would do much more. Even then - the damage could likely be reversed with a
repair install or perhaps using the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows..
(
http://www.ubcd4win.com/) - in fact using the UBCD4Win you could boot and
see the data on the secondary drive - barring hardware failures.
