Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Beans
    183
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

    summary: I'd like to do incremental backup from my PanP5 to DVD-RW discs with `rsync`, as I formerly did on winxp. What do I need to do differently?

    details:

    My former daily-work box was a TP with winxp, cygwin, and DLA, which I still have. I also still have the bash scripts I used on it for incremental backups of various parts of the HD to DVD-RW. The lifecycle was like

    1. (once) initialize/format a blank DVD-RW (using DLA UI)
    2. (many) run script to rsync files to the DVD-RW
    3. (once) once DVD-RW filled, finalize it (using DLA UI)


    I want to resume doing this on my current daily-work box, a PanP5 running karmic (and soon hopefully lucid), with a built-in DVD-RW drive. I'm wondering,

    1. What do I need to do differently, esp for initialization and finalization?
    2. Which packages/tools do folks recommend? brasero? dvd+rw-tools? wodim?
    3. Is there any way to make the DVDs compatible with winxp, so that I could read and write from either OS?
    4. Are there gotchas, tips, or tricks I should know about?


    TIA, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche@pobox.com>

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Cambrils (Tarragona)
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

    not that I know anything about your problem, but may I ask why DVD-RW? External hard drives are extremely cheap these days, and they are faster, bigger and more secure that DVD-RW. I'm really curious about this one.
    Busques ajuda? Comença pel wiki de l'equip català!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Beans
    183
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

    Quote Originally Posted by PatrickVogeli View Post
    why DVD-RW? External hard drives are extremely cheap these days
    HDs and SSDs are not nearly as cheap as DVDs (esp if one has access to a bulk supply :-)

    Quote Originally Posted by PatrickVogeli View Post
    [External hard drives] are faster [than] DVD-RW.
    No doubt, but I typically run backups in downtime, and incrementals usually don't involve too much data, so the speed delta doesn't matter much in practice.

    Quote Originally Posted by PatrickVogeli View Post
    [External hard drives are] bigger [than] DVD-RW.
    True again, but, again, not a big win for the incremental usecase, esp if one rolls them over (see next point).

    Quote Originally Posted by PatrickVogeli View Post
    [External hard drives are] more secure [than] DVD-RW.
    Really? DVDs are so cheap that one can regularly take a backup disk, secure it offsite, and start backup to a new disk. Maybe you've got the cash to do that with HD/SSD, but to me, the opportunity cost seems pretty high.

    Also, DVDs are a helluva lot easier to label :-)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Aurora, CO
    Beans
    2,564
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

    Before I get you going in rsync, have you thought about cloud backup options? Dropbox and Ubuntu One offer 2 GB free, and 50 GB for $10 per month. Not a bad deal. Plus, it is nearly invisible and pretty secure these days.
    Ian Santopietro - System76 Technical Support.
    Open a Support Ticket!
    Ask a Sales Question!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Beans
    183
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: incremental backup to DVD-RW on PanP5

    Quote Originally Posted by tlroche View Post
    summary: I'd like to do incremental backup from my PanP5 to DVD-RW discs with `rsync`, as I formerly did on winxp. [...] I'm wondering,
    1. What do I need to do differently, esp for initialization and finalization?
    2. Which packages/tools do folks recommend? brasero? dvd+rw-tools? wodim?
    3. Is there any way to make the DVDs compatible with winxp, so that I could read and write from either OS?
    4. Are there gotchas, tips, or tricks I should know about?
    Quote Originally Posted by isantop View Post
    Before I get you going in rsync,
    Just to clarify, I've already got working rsync scripts. I wanna know,
    what do I need to do to mount a DVD-RW before, and umount after, I run
    the scripts, so I can reuse the disks for repeated incremental backups.

    Quote Originally Posted by isantop View Post
    have you thought about cloud backup options?
    I have, but

    1. I've only got 10-20 GB to backup. It's more than I can get on the free plans, and less than it seems worth to pay for.
    2. I have access to a stock of very cheap DVDs.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •