VanLUG Email Archive
Jay Thorne (jay@kesoftware.com)
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 12:13:08 -0800
Brian Edmonds wrote:
>
> Jay Thorne <jay@kesoftware.com> writes:
> >> This morning, my tape drive (Seagate TapeStor STT38000N-RFT) ate tape
> > The extension of this with Murphy's Law is ugly to think of: Imagine
> > your tape drive eating a tape on RESTORE, of a critical backup.
>
> To which I'd point out I've got three tapes in rotation (well, six
> actually, since they're each paired with a daily incrementals tape).
> I'd feel safer with a four stage backup rotation, so I'll probably end
> up picking up another couple tapes soon.
>
> Just to be properly paranoid, I also keep the most recent level zero at
> my office rather than at home.
>
> Brian.
This is the attitude of someone who has been burned. You resolve NEVER to
be without a good backup.
Here's a note for the list: You don't have a _real_ backup until you've
tried to recover a file off your tapes or done a verify. Its not a backup
until you can read it....
I got burned once on an old VAX many years ago. The 9 Track drive was
starting to break constantly, and we talked DEC into replacing it under
contract. Much to our surprise, the old drive was so far out of alignment
that the new drive couldn't read the old tapes. We ended up having to get
the old drive back, get the needed data off the tapes and making new
backups.
-- Jay Thorne jay@kesoftware.com KE Software http://www.kesoftware.com
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