Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Not backing up will cost you!

(1/9) > >>

JavaJones:
So here's part 1 of 2 blog posts I'm writing about my data loss, recovery, and backup experiences. I hope it will serve as a stern reminder to everyone to backup their important data. Not doing so could cost you 1000's of dollars or worse.

Now, I felt pretty secure with the data on the 4big given it was RAID5. For those not familiar with the technology, it basically uses multiple disks with a sophisticated data distribution system that allows for redundancy. This means that theoretically an entire disk can fail and your data is still ok because it can be rebuilt from the other disks. If 2 disks fail simultaneously (or the controller fails), then you have a problem. Theoretically however the chance of a double disk failure is lower than that of a single failure, so one would imagine the data is safer than with a single drive.

Unfortunately double disk failure or single disk failure combined with other corruption can and does happen, as I found out much to my dismay. I loaded all my photos onto the unit shortly after my return and began sorting through them and posting new sets every day or two. After a week or so of working on photos off and on, I started to see some issues reading certain images. I checked my Windows event log and found a whole bunch of disk-related errors essentially saying my 4big drive was corrupted and it needed to be scanned for errors. I rebooted shortly after and a disk scan ran automatically. Though I've never had much faith in Windows' chkdsk utility, I soon found out that it's even worse to run it on a RAID.
--- End quote ---

http://oshyan.blogspot.com/2010/12/seriously-people-back-up-your-data.html

- Oshyan

cyberdiva:
Thanks, Oshyan.  It's a very compelling and scary account.  And thanks to you, I've just finished backing up my desktop.

JavaJones:
Hooray! I've done some good. :D

Thanks for reading.

- Oshyan

AndyM:
...Now, I felt pretty secure with the data on the 4big given it was RAID5. ...
-JavaJones (December 24, 2010, 05:34 PM)
--- End quote ---

But what about a house fire or burglary?

JavaJones:
Absolutely, those are two good examples of unlikely but very possible scenarios that on-site backup (even in addition to RAID) will not cover you for. In fact, although I didn't write it in that particular blog entry, I had been planning to create a full backup system long-term. I just didn't worry about it *as much* or feel as urgent about it because of the RAID5 setup, and that was a mistake (and no burglary or fire was needed to prove that to be true).

The 2nd post will be up in a few days and will talk about the need for off-site backup and how to arrange it.

- Oshyan

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page