Using a hard disk drive as an archival media

[David Arnstein]

I would argue against the very idea of archiving. Commodity PC hardware
is very cheap, and can be forced into serving as a reliable backup
system. But it cannot be forced into serving as a reliable archive
system.

Here is my minimal arrangement for data security. The principal behind
this scheme is protection against an undetected failure. If you insist
on using an archive scheme with commodity PC hardware (and software!)
then you can never obtain this protection. This scheme requires a
minimum of three USB disk drives that are used as backup media.

I start by KEEPING all of my data in my computer. Old photos, email from
ten years ago, all of it. No exceptions! No archived media! I am not
going to spend ten thousand dollars on professional grade tape libraries
and I am certainly not going to trust commodity (cheap) peecee hardware
to archive any data that I care about.

I keep two drives near the computer, and I use them to perform backups
on alternate days. In this way, I get a measure of protection against
failure of backup software, which is a non-trivial concern. I also get
protection against hardware failure in the backup media (disk drives).

The third drive I keep offsite. This gives me protection against fire,
theft, incoming artillery, and so forth.

About once a month, I rotate the positions of the three disk drives.

The key point is that I regularly write to all of my backup media. This
serves as a test for hardware failure. In other words, I am constantly
defending myself against the undetected failure.

If I want greater security, I rotate the drives more frequently. If I
want longer backup history, I add more USB drives to the rotation.

 

[John Turco]

Arno wrote:

Although I admit I have been too lazy so far and are just
storing a backup drive in the cellar. Given that this cellar
is actually an nuke-proof bunker (_not_ for a direct or close
hit), this is probably reasonable ;-)

Arno

The "Cold War" ended (with the USSR's demise), over two decades
ago; Soviet nuclear weapons are no longer a threat, to the West.

(Just beware of Muslim terrorists, crashing hijacked jetliners
into your Swiss stronghold, however.)

 

[Lynn McGuire]

I would argue against the very idea of archiving. Commodity PC hardware
is very cheap, and can be forced into serving as a reliable backup
system. But it cannot be forced into serving as a reliable archive
system.

Here is my minimal arrangement for data security. The principal behind
this scheme is protection against an undetected failure. If you insist
on using an archive scheme with commodity PC hardware (and software!)
then you can never obtain this protection. This scheme requires a
minimum of three USB disk drives that are used as backup media.

I start by KEEPING all of my data in my computer. Old photos, email from
ten years ago, all of it. No exceptions! No archived media! I am not
going to spend ten thousand dollars on professional grade tape libraries
and I am certainly not going to trust commodity (cheap) peecee hardware
to archive any data that I care about.

I keep two drives near the computer, and I use them to perform backups
on alternate days. In this way, I get a measure of protection against
failure of backup software, which is a non-trivial concern. I also get
protection against hardware failure in the backup media (disk drives).

The third drive I keep offsite. This gives me protection against fire,
theft, incoming artillery, and so forth.

About once a month, I rotate the positions of the three disk drives.

The key point is that I regularly write to all of my backup media. This
serves as a test for hardware failure. In other words, I am constantly
defending myself against the undetected failure.

If I want greater security, I rotate the drives more frequently. If I
want longer backup history, I add more USB drives to the rotation.

I agree. If it ain't spinning, it's worthless.

As mentioned before, at the office I have 10 backup drives,
3 internal and 7 external. At home, 4 backup drives, 1
internal and 3 external.

Lynn

 

[Arno]

Arno wrote:

<edited for brevity>

The "Cold War" ended (with the USSR's demise), over two decades
ago; Soviet nuclear weapons are no longer a threat, to the West.

(Just beware of Muslim terrorists, crashing hijacked jetliners
into your Swiss stronghold, however.)

Hehe. AFAIK, it has been > 10 years that these bunkers are not
mandatory in new buildings anymore. However typical building
lifetime is something > 100 years here, so most Swiss buildings
have them. Kind of paranoid, I know.

Arno

 

[Sprechen Sie C++]

As mentioned before, at the office I have 10 backup drives,
3 internal and 7 external. At home, 4 backup drives, 1
internal and 3 external.

Lynn


I have a table on this page with all of my hard disks that I own
I hold a Windows MVP so my table is well researched

http://www.windows-it.tk/wp/disk-reliability.html

 

[John Turco]

Hehe. AFAIK, it has been > 10 years that these bunkers are not
mandatory in new buildings anymore. However typical building
lifetime is something > 100 years here, so most Swiss buildings
have them. Kind of paranoid, I know.

Arno

Hey, "paranoia" has always worked for Switzerland. When was your
country last invaded, eh?

Even Herr Shicklegrubber, himself, didn't mess with the Swiss!

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Arno wrote

Hey, "paranoia" has always worked for Switzerland.
When was your country last invaded, eh?

Even Herr Shicklegrubber, himself, didn't mess with the Swiss!

It suited him better to have some place he could get rid of the gold
he got from all those jews' teeth.