Re: [rdiff-backup-users] will this work?

[Robert Nichols]

On 03/28/2013 04:07 PM, Eugene Johnson wrote:
> I have ~3TB of files on 2 different qnap nas boxes. These server have a lot of
> small files if that matters. One is on the local network and the other is 
> offsite.
>
> I would like to use rdiff-backup to backup my files to a removable sata drive in
> a linux pc. My idea is to get 4 4TB drives and run an initial rdiff-backup and
> then clone that drive to the other 3 drives. Take those 3 home.
>
> Run rdiff-backup throughout the week (taking the drive home every night) and
> then on Monday swap that drive for one of the drives I have at home and repeat
> the process. I would always have 3 drives at home and wouldn't lose more than a
> couple of days of data at worst and could restore data from a long time ago if
> needed.
>
> Crazy or would it work? Thanks for any input.

You won't have the level of redundancy that you think you do. If you
have some directory with content that changes daily and want to see what
was in there on some specific date, there will be exactly one drive that
holds the backup for that date.

Every night, all four drives will be at the same location and vulnerable
to fire, theft, or other disaster.

If you want to see the history of all the changes some configuration
file has had, you will have to get the versions from all four backup
drives and merge the results.

When you bring in a drive that has been sitting at home for four weeks,
rdiff-backup and the network connection to the offsite box are going to
work pretty hard to record the diffs for everything that has changed
during that time. If the data is mostly static, that's not really an
issue.

--
Bob Nichols     "NOSPAM" is really part of my email address.
                Do NOT delete it.