Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)
Hello! I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are: - Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?) In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an easy-to-use interface. Thanks so much in advance! Brad -- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data... On Feb 1, 2017 14:48, "Scott Allen via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 1 February 2017 at 11:37, Brad Fonseca via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software.
Here we go again ...
-- Scott --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data... <snip>
Good point! I guess I should verify what I should be backing up and how to restore in the case of a failure. To start, I assume that /home should be a target. What other directories would make sense to back up? Thanks, Brad -- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191
On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data... <snip>
This Stack Exchange thread seems to be useful: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1067/what-directories-do-i-need-to-b... "Under most circumstances you want to backup these: /home/ for user data and configuration /etc/ for system wide configuration files /var/ contains a mix of directories you usually want to backup and those you don't want to backup. See below for a more detailed explanation. Some more directories to consider are: /usr/local/ hand-installed packages (i.e. not installed through apt) are installed here. If you have packages installed here, you may want to backup the whole directory, so you don't have to reinstall them. If the packages themselves aren't important to you, it should be enough to backup /usr/local/etc/ and /usr/local/src/ /opt/ if you didn't store anything here, you don't need to back it up. If you stored something here, you are in the best position to decide, if you want to back it up. /srv/ much like /opt/, but is by convention more likely to contain data you actually want to backup. /root/ stores configuration for the root user. If that is important to you, you should back it up. ...." Brad -- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:06:58PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
On 01/02/17 11:51 AM, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data... <snip>
This Stack Exchange thread seems to be useful: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1067/what-directories-do-i-need-to-b...
For beginner (since you're asking this sort of questions), backup everything. You can decide what to restore later. -- William
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 02:51:02PM -0200, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data...
5 different incorrectly configured and untested procedures. That's pretty much the definition of how not to do backup. -- Len Sorensen
On 02/01/2017 03:55 PM, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 02:51:02PM -0200, Mauro Souza via talk wrote:
Good software is not the problem. Good procedures are the point. GitLab had 5 different backup procedures, and were offline this morning when they could not recover lost data... 5 different incorrectly configured and untested procedures.
That's pretty much the definition of how not to do backup.
Trying to explain to people why they need a whole bunch of spare computers and take days of solid work to test disaster recovery is always a hard sell. You usually get a look like "what are you incompetent? You should just do it right the first time and not need to test". SIGH. -- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 04:05:31PM -0500, Alvin Starr wrote:
Trying to explain to people why they need a whole bunch of spare computers and take days of solid work to test disaster recovery is always a hard sell.
You usually get a look like "what are you incompetent? You should just do it right the first time and not need to test".
Well they could at least have looked that the backups appeared to contain data. Apparently they didn't even do that and had essentially zero byte backups. -- Len Sorensen
On 01/02/17 11:48 AM, Scott Allen via talk wrote:
On 1 February 2017 at 11:37, Brad Fonseca via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software.
Here we go again ...
Sorry, I should have also mentioned that if this topic has been discussed to death already on another thread, please let me know what it is and I'll check it out. My apologies for cluttering up the forum with previously asked questions. Thanks, Brad -- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191
Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen. I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as they are USB powered, USB 3, and small form factor. I get decent performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small. -jason On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hello!
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
- Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an easy-to-use interface.
Thanks so much in advance!
Brad
-- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191 --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
- Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an easy-to-use interface.
Thanks so much in advance!
On 1 February 2017 at 11:49, Jason Shaw via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen.
I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as they are USB powered, USB 3, and small form factor. I get decent performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.
I'll second the vote for the Western Digital Passports. They're spinning disks, but your SSD >500G for <$100 ain't happening. And besides, it's a backup, not your operating system, so slow should be okay. I've been using multiples of this series for about four years for backups with no problems, traded up from the 2TB to the 4TB about a year ago. You can sometimes find the 2TB for about $110. If the price-point is important, the 1TB is currently $100 at Newegg ( https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236786&cm_re=western_digital_portable_external_hd-_-22-236-786-_-Product ) - may be cheaper elsewhere, I haven't checked. The price varies frequently, check Amazon, Canada Computers, and Best Buy as well. I use rsync - my backups to the Passport drives usually takes about 20 minutes. Initial prep of a 250G partition will take an hour or two, but the differential backup after that isn't too bad. I recommend having at least two of the drives - this means you can have rotating backups and it also means that you can store one off-site. Jason is recommending incremental backups, which would be better than rsync. I need to spend the time to figure out the differences between rsnapshot and rdiff-backup, make the choice, and get myself set up. -- Giles http://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 11:49:32AM -0500, Jason Shaw via talk wrote:
Getting 500 GB SSD for <$100 is probably not going to happen.
I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as they are USB powered, USB 3, and small form factor. I get decent performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.
The WD elements are plain external drives. The WD passport comes with windows backup software and encryption and other things that probably at best are not useful with linux and at worst might make the drive more difficult to actually use with linux. So the WD elements is probably better to look at. https://community.wd.com/t/how-do-i-unlock-wd-my-passport-in-linux/10572/2 points out that using the encryption on the WD passport makes it unusable with linux. Canada computers appears to have a WD elements 1TB drive for $85. -- Len Sorensen
| From: Jason Shaw via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as | they are USB powered, USB 3, and small form factor. I get decent | performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after | the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small. Thoughts about external drives: - FireWire is gone. Let that be a lesson. - eSATA is probably going to disappear. It isn't common. For longevity, pick USB 3. - eSATA has a couple of advantages and disadvantages + faster than USB2 (important for older computers) + makes S.M.A.R.T. features of the drive available to the computer. - hot-plug is very system-dependant and not well documented. - 2.5" is so much more convenient than 3.5 + one cable vs separate data and power cable + no power supply brick + physically smaller + bare drives are meant to survive physical shock better (laptops need more robust drives than desktops) - the price difference between 2.5" and 3.5" isn't bad - external drives are usually cheaper than bare drives! Very odd. - you should size your drives appropriately for your workflow Seagate 4T 2.5" drives are amazingly inexpensive once in a while (I've collected a few at ~$125 + tax). But a lot of eggs fit in that basket. - WD external drives are encrypted. You cannot take the drive out of a busted enclosure to recover the data. Seagate drives are can be taken out of the enclosure and read (at least until recently; any changes are unlikely to be announced). The reason WD does this is probably to maintain the price premium for bare drives. It makes a small number of failure modes worse for WD drives than Seagate drives. - I've bought a few inexpensive NAS boxes. Very convenient but the firmware gets obsolete and security might be a problem. They seem fairly slow. - USB flash memory sticks are very convenient but their reliability seems unpredictable and bad. - assume that all drives fail. If all your drives are of one model, they may all fail the same way at roughly the same time. But most backup plans assume that each failure is independent. OOPS. - consider using archival CDs or DVDs as a supplement to hard drives. Mag Tape seems to be a gonner. - low-acid paper is pretty useful but only for low-volume archiving. Even more so for clay tablets. - the only safe archival plan involves regular copying of the data. Copying must include verifying. "Regular" means at a frequency significantly higher than the expected failure rate of the medium (obsolescence is a kind of failure). This copying should be scheduled when the previous copy is made to increase the chances that it will actually happen. Discipline! This is something I have failed at too often in my half century of playing with computers. - pick you filesystem carefully - some may become obsolete - some try to survive limited medium errors - archived data needs to be indexed in some way that it can be found. It must be in a format that will be accessible when it is needed. This is a big topic.
On Fri, Feb 03, 2017 at 12:42:47PM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
| From: Jason Shaw via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
| I personally like the form factor of Western Digital Passport drives as | they are USB powered, USB 3, and small form factor. I get decent | performance out of it, and so long as your backups are incremental, after | the initial sync, the future changesets should be fairly small.
Thoughts about external drives:
- FireWire is gone. Let that be a lesson.
- eSATA is probably going to disappear. It isn't common. For longevity, pick USB 3.
I find it is in lots of places. I do have external backups drives with both USB3 and eSata which I find convinient. That is on a larger one with an external power supply though. I haven't seen too many eSATAp drives.
- eSATA has a couple of advantages and disadvantages + faster than USB2 (important for older computers) + makes S.M.A.R.T. features of the drive available to the computer. - hot-plug is very system-dependant and not well documented.
- 2.5" is so much more convenient than 3.5 + one cable vs separate data and power cable
At least with USB3. With USB2 in the past that wasn't always true.
+ no power supply brick + physically smaller + bare drives are meant to survive physical shock better (laptops need more robust drives than desktops)
- the price difference between 2.5" and 3.5" isn't bad
Can't get quite as large drives in 2.5" but that might not be a problem.
- external drives are usually cheaper than bare drives! Very odd.
Not what I have seen, although if they are, you might not be comparing against the right bare drive. Some external enclosures use lower spec drives (less cache, lower RPM, etc) since they figure they don't actually need the performance if connected by USB. They are not the primary drive for the system after all.
- you should size your drives appropriately for your workflow Seagate 4T 2.5" drives are amazingly inexpensive once in a while (I've collected a few at ~$125 + tax). But a lot of eggs fit in that basket.
- WD external drives are encrypted. You cannot take the drive out of a busted enclosure to recover the data. Seagate drives are can be taken out of the enclosure and read (at least until recently; any changes are unlikely to be announced). The reason WD does this is probably to maintain the price premium for bare drives. It makes a small number of failure modes worse for WD drives than Seagate drives.
Only some WD drives are encrypted. Some use a custom connector though which would be quite a pain. Apparently some of them they put the USB interface right on the drive controller board, so it doesn't even have a SATA connector. This seems to be the case of the WD element for example.
- I've bought a few inexpensive NAS boxes. Very convenient but the firmware gets obsolete and security might be a problem. They seem fairly slow.
- USB flash memory sticks are very convenient but their reliability seems unpredictable and bad.
- assume that all drives fail. If all your drives are of one model, they may all fail the same way at roughly the same time. But most backup plans assume that each failure is independent. OOPS.
Yes backups should be a set of disks in rotation. You don't want to be overwriting your only backup while doing a new backup since that means you have no backup for a while and that could be the moment your main disk decides to fail.
- consider using archival CDs or DVDs as a supplement to hard drives. Mag Tape seems to be a gonner.
- low-acid paper is pretty useful but only for low-volume archiving. Even more so for clay tablets.
- the only safe archival plan involves regular copying of the data. Copying must include verifying. "Regular" means at a frequency significantly higher than the expected failure rate of the medium (obsolescence is a kind of failure). This copying should be scheduled when the previous copy is made to increase the chances that it will actually happen. Discipline! This is something I have failed at too often in my half century of playing with computers.
- pick you filesystem carefully - some may become obsolete - some try to survive limited medium errors
- archived data needs to be indexed in some way that it can be found. It must be in a format that will be accessible when it is needed. This is a big topic.
All good advice. Not sure I want to use clay tablets. -- Len Sorensen
On 2017-02-03 12:56 PM, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
Apparently some of them they put the USB interface right on the drive controller board, so it doesn't even have a SATA connector.
Like the “WD PiDrive Foundation Edition” for the Raspberry Pi: <http://wdlabs.wd.com/products/wd-pidrive-foundation-edition/>
Not sure I want to use clay tablets.
Oh I dunno: a CNC controlled punch could impress QR-Code-like Reed–Solomon encoded data on wet feldspar clay tiles. Fire that with a nice glaze and you'll get a few kilobytes per tile that will last for pretty much everyone's definition of "forever". Proper storage should consider plate tectonics as a threat model. Reformatting the media, however, is left as an exercise for the reader. Stewart
On Fri, Feb 03, 2017 at 02:05:43PM -0500, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:
Like the “WD PiDrive Foundation Edition” for the Raspberry Pi: <http://wdlabs.wd.com/products/wd-pidrive-foundation-edition/>
That does appear to be just like the drive inside the element. Makes sense to be the same design. And it does appear the PiDrive is USB3, even though the pi can't currently gain any benefit from that. Interesting power/usb attachment cable they have made so the power brick can power both the drive and the pi at the same time. -- Len Sorensen
On Feb 3, 2017 2:05 PM, "Stewart C. Russell via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> wrote: On 2017-02-03 12:56 PM, Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
Apparently some of them they put the USB interface right on the drive controller board, so it doesn't even have a SATA connector.
Like the “WD PiDrive Foundation Edition” for the Raspberry Pi: <http://wdlabs.wd.com/products/wd-pidrive-foundation-edition/>
Not sure I want to use clay tablets.
Oh I dunno: a CNC controlled punch could impress QR-Code-like Reed–Solomon encoded data on wet feldspar clay tiles. Fire that with a nice glaze and you'll get a few kilobytes per tile that will last for pretty much everyone's definition of "forever". Proper storage should consider plate tectonics as a threat model. Reformatting the media, however, is left as an exercise for the reader. With the proper isotope markers in the mix = Bitcoins. Grind em up and start a new fork after the digital value is siphoned off. Russell Stewart --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 11:37:04AM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
Hello!
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
- Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
You have 2 options here: - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this) - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself.
On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote: <snip>
You have 2 options here: - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this) - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself. <snip>
William, Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external drives based on my requirements? -- Brad Fonseca Mobile: 416-876-2191
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:13:17PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote: <snip>
You have 2 options here: - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this) - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself. <snip>
William,
Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external drives based on my requirements?
WD and Adata seem to be at the front, marketing wise. Not sure about reliability, since I don't have them. My main issue with external 2.5" harddisks is power issue. Peak current of 500mA USB2 and 900mA USB3 may not be enough. -- William
On 1 February 2017 at 14:00, William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On Wed, Feb 01, 2017 at 12:13:17PM -0500, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
On 01/02/17 12:06 PM, William Park via talk wrote: <snip>
You have 2 options here: - buy preassembled external drive (I recommend this) - get drive and enclosure separately and assemble yourself. <snip>
William,
Do you recommend any particular brands/models of pre-assembled external drives based on my requirements?
WD and Adata seem to be at the front, marketing wise. Not sure about reliability, since I don't have them. My main issue with external 2.5" harddisks is power issue. Peak current of 500mA USB2 and 900mA USB3 may not be enough.
About a decade ago they used to make drives with three USB connectors: one to the drive, and two to the host machine so they could draw up to twice as much power. Every experience I've had since then (across multiple computers, multiple external 2.5" drives, and eight to ten years) suggests that excessive current draw simply isn't a problem. External portable drives "just work:" that's a decade old problem that should be laid to rest. -- Giles http://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com
On 02/01/2017 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
Hello!
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
- Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an easy-to-use interface.
Thanks so much in advance!
Brad
I would suggest a NAS box just because you can stick it in a corner and just about everything you will want to backup will connect to the network. Or even backup over wifi. I have had mixed luck with USB drives. I find they are ok for moving some files around but trying to clone a lot of files tends to break some usb->sata chip-sets. -- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
Warm Greetings To The GTALUG Community, Portable Backup Drive -- A deeply interesting subject !! * * * * * *
I would suggest a NAS box just because you can stick it in a corner and just about everything you will want to backup will connect to the network. Or even backup over wifi.
Sounds like an interesting idea, but: -- NAS does come with the complexities of networking; -- is a NAS box likely to be convenient, for frequent off-site / on-site cycling of backup media??
I have had mixed luck with USB drives. I find they are ok for moving some files around but trying to clone a lot of files tends to break some usb->sata chip-sets.
Are there any particular usb->sata chip-sets, that you would care to single out for praise or criticism? What abou the -- JMicron - JMS561 -- chip-set that is used in the www.startech.com HDD docking station that I mention below ?? * * * * * * Earlier, thanks to some excellent advice I received via the GTALUG email forum, I bought a 1 TB WD My Passport Ultra portable USB HDD. This acquisition was done as part of my plan to migrate soon from a very ancient Dell Windows XP desktop PC to debian Linux running on a brand new custom-configured desktop PC. While it was somewhat painful to get the WD portable USB drive working with Windows XP: 1. the drive comes GPT formatted, which is not a supported partitioning scheme under XP ( I used NTFS); 2. tricky to get the drive recognized as a partitioned USB device under XP; The WD drive works fine. Backups can take a long time (the Dell PC is USB 2.0, not 3.0), but not longer than I usually sleep in one stretch :) I'm using backup software SyncBackFree V7.6.28.0 on the Windows XP box, for mirroring my many NTFS partitions, on to the WD USB HDD. * * * * * * The advice about the WD Elements versus the Passport came too late for me. But I can assure the forum that, after I looked at the backup application software that comes with the WD Passport, I chose not to touch it at all. Seems way to wedded to the world of Microsoft, for my taste. I plan to buy two (2) more WD USB drives for backup, and I'll definitely try to get the Elements model, per GTALUG advice. * ** * * * During my research into these portable USB HDDs, I came across several complaints (Amazon customer experience postings) about failures of the electrical connectivity of the USB cable / connector. With a portable USB drive, there can be frequent connector insertion / removal cycles. It seems that the early USB connector standards are not engineered for this kind of frequent duty cycle. By contrast, the USB-C connector standard has been designed to be robust under conditions of frequent insertion / removal (minimum 10,000 insertion / removal cycles.) Being concerned also, about reports I read of portable drives overheating, under conditions of sustained intensive data access, I looked for a fan-cooled docking station. Found one, that accepts insertion of an (internal not USB) SATA-bus drive, and that presents it as a USB drive to the host computer: -- www.startech.com -- eSATA USB 3.0 Docking Station 2.5_3.5 Inches SATA 3 UASP Built-In Fan (SDOCKU33EF) But on closer inspection, this docking station seemed to have too many disadvantages: -- big exposed cooling fan would likely be too noisy; -- clumsy balancing legs to fold out; -- high-force mechanical latch mechnanism, likely subjects the HDD to too much repeaqted mechanical shock; So, I have designed a simple docking station that: 1.enables low-mechanical-force insertion and removal of the portable drive, but still keeps it securely in place; 2. Provides an enclosed drive bay with integral cooling fan inside, for quiet efficient cooling operation; 3. Accepts a USB HDD with a USB-A jack, so no need to provide any electrical bus contacts at all (e.g. SATA), in the drive bay; 4. Provides a USB-C connector on the outside front of the docking station enclosure, so a short USB-A-to-USB-C cable connects the HDD, with the USB-A connector staying permanently plugged to the portable HDD, while the other end of the cable carries the USB-C conenctor for reliable frequent connector insertion / temoval via the USB-C jack on the exterior of the docking station; 5. Provides USB-B and USB-C host-side connectors on the rear panel of the docking station; 6. Includes a custom-designed and compact, easily-attached retro-fit "grip" for the portable HDD, the grip eliminates all cable strain on the USB-A connector, yet is small enough so that the portable HDD, together with the grip and coiled USB-A-to-USB-C cable, still all easily fit into a small Canada Post P.O. box at any Postal Outlet. (Although the fine print in the CP P.O. Box rental contract, specifically excludes box use for "storage". I have never had any problems with my local Postal Outlet, over my storing backup media in the box.) My thinking for this USB HDD docking station design is, once my new debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station. All good fun !! Best Regards, Steve apetrie@aspetrie.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alvin Starr via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> To: <talk@gtalug.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 4:39 PM Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)
On 02/01/2017 11:37 AM, Brad Fonseca via talk wrote:
Hello!
I am in the market for a new portable hard drive in order back up my files on my Linux system (running Mageia 5.1). My requirements are:
- Reliable - Portable - Price Under $100 - at least 500 GB in size - USB-powered (I don't want to have to deal with plugging it in) - no additional software included (an empty file system without having to immediately reformat the drive if possible) - Fast file transfer and retrieval rates (SSD with USB 3.0?)
In addition, I'd like some recommendations regarding good Linux-based back-up software. I've looked at luckyBackup (http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/) based on some articles I've read but I know this group probably has some well-tested applications they prefer. Ideally, the application will have good documentation and/or an easy-to-use interface.
Thanks so much in advance!
Brad
I would suggest a NAS box just because you can stick it in a corner and just about everything you will want to backup will connect to the network. Or even backup over wifi.
I have had mixed luck with USB drives. I find they are ok for moving some files around but trying to clone a lot of files tends to break some usb->sata chip-sets.
-- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
--- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On Thu, Feb 2, 2017, at 11:01, Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk wrote:
6. Includes a custom-designed and compact, easily-attached retro-fit
"grip" for the portable HDD, the grip eliminates all cable strain on the USB-A connector, yet is small enough so that the portable HDD, together with the grip and coiled USB-A-to-USB-C cable, still all easily fit into a small Canada Post P.O. box at any Postal Outlet. (Although the fine print in the CP P.O. Box rental contract, specifically excludes box use for "storage". I have never had any problems with my local Postal
Outlet, over my storing backup media in the box.)
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
My thinking for this USB HDD docking station design is, once my new
debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking
station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded
premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a
deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station.
I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list! -- znoteer@hailmail.net -- http://www.fastmail.com - Access all of your messages and folders wherever you are
On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they suspect is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.
I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!
SATA docks are already a commodity thing, with video users moving tonnes of data around via bare drives in slip cases. Canada Computers has USB 3 SATA docks for under $40. cheers, Stewart
On 02/02/17 16:54, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:
On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they suspect is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.
A standard 5" hard drive just fits into the smallest safety deposit box at my local bank, so that's what I use. This runs me ~$40 a year, but I have other stuff I have to store there anyway so its costless. -- Michael Galea
Please see below. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Galea via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> To: <talk@gtalug.org> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 6:16 PM Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)
On 02/02/17 16:54, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:
On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they suspect is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.
A standard 5" hard drive just fits into the smallest safety deposit box at my local bank, so that's what I use. This runs me ~$40 a year, but I have other stuff I have to store there anyway so its costless.
Certainly a bank SDB is a far more secure and safe storage facility, than a Postal Outlet P.O. Box. I suppose it depends on how often one swaps the off-site backup. I swap mine three (3) or more times a week, and I don't relish the idea of going though the linup, signature, etc. rigamarole at my bank, so often.
-- Michael Galea --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Please see below. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stewart C. Russell via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> To: <talk@gtalug.org> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 4:54 PM Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)
On 2017-02-02 03:32 PM, znoteer--- via talk wrote:
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
CP likely has the right to remove anything from a box that they suspect is being stored, so I wouldn't rely on this.
Very true. I'm not happy with using the CP P.O. Box, but I really don't have much choice at the moment. I was formerly using a mailbox at a nearby UPS Store, and their management had no problems with the backup media storage concept. But unfortunately, the owners of that UPS franchise location closed the store, and now the nearest available UPS Store is too far away. I was thinking of approaching the Oakville Public Library, to see if they might perhaps be interested in getting in to the offsite storage business. They have a very extensive system of branch locations, and they run a pretty impressive operation for keeping track of lots of small items containing information ...
I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!
SATA docks are already a commodity thing, with video users moving tonnes of data around via bare drives in slip cases. Canada Computers has USB 3 SATA docks for under $40.
I did look at SATA docks, and found only the one from www.startech.com that had a cooling fan, but I'll go back and look again. Maybe a cooling fan isn't so important, for a backup drive that isn't being hammered constantly 24 / 7 with updates? It would make me feel a little nervous, the idea of slinging around an HDD with an exposed SATA bus connector. USB gives me a better feeling of comfort, since the USB connector is designed to be end-user operable, and presumably likely is more robust than the SATA, under conditions of e.g. static electrical effects.
cheers, Stewart
--- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Please see below. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "znoteer--- via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> To: <talk@gtalug.org> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 3:32 PM Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Portable Backup Drive Compatible with Linux (and Recommended Backup Software)
On Thu, Feb 2, 2017, at 11:01, Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk wrote:
6. Includes a custom-designed and compact, easily-attached retro-fit
"grip" for the portable HDD, the grip eliminates all cable strain on the USB-A connector, yet is small enough so that the portable HDD, together with the grip and coiled USB-A-to-USB-C cable, still all easily fit into a small Canada Post P.O. box at any Postal Outlet. (Although the fine print in the CP P.O. Box rental contract, specifically excludes box use for "storage". I have never had any problems with my local Postal
Outlet, over my storing backup media in the box.)
Interesting idea to store a backup in a postal outlet.
Not a very good idea, I must admit.
My thinking for this USB HDD docking station design is, once my new
debian Linux PC is operational, to consider developing the docking
station as a saleable product, likely through a crowd-funded
premium-based financing model, where the premium will be a
deeply-discounted early-release model of the docking station.
I hope you'll announce any eventual financing campaign on the list!
I'm kind of hoping for a backup dock "magic bullet" to come flying at me from GTALUG, so I won't have to actually develop a new dock. If I do decide that there's no other satisfactory backup dock solution, then certainly GTALUG will be the first to know about any crowd-funded initiative. It's GTALUG after all, who are responsible for sparking the idea, in the first place :) I'm thinking of open-sourcing any dock device design anyway, so if I do open source it, I would share it with GTALUG.
--
znoteer@hailmail.net
-- http://www.fastmail.com - Access all of your messages and folders wherever you are
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
participants (14)
-
Alvin Starr -
Brad Fonseca -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
Giles Orr -
Jason Shaw -
lsorense＠csclub.uwaterloo.ca -
Mauro Souza -
Michael Galea -
Russell Reiter -
Scott Allen -
Steve Petrie, P.Eng. -
Stewart C. Russell -
William Park -
znoteer＠hailmail.net