Tested several backup software for my laptop.
1. FBackup 4.2 — not support incremental backup
2. Backup4all.Professional.4.2 — during my test, there is a strange error in inc backup.
3. Cobian Backup V10.0 — GUI isn’t friendly
4. GFI Backup 2009 Home Edition — almost perfect, except log which is too professional.
Final, decided to use “GFI Backup 2009 Home Edition”, it’s free for personal user.
Now, we can use disk as data backup media, so it appeared, the dedupe.
We think disk can be more available than tape, and it’s more suitable for random read and write I/O, and there is no need to mount tape and find record position. All of physical operations can be replace by disk header’s moving.
It’s funny.
Dedupe depends on the safety of the first backup data, if it lost for any reason, the hazard can not be evaluated.
To make sure the first data is available at any time, let’s look at what we can do.
First, we using RAID, most is RAID5, even RAID6. With hot spare disk, we can prevent data lost under two disks broken.
Second, Volume Mirror.
Third, data file can be splitted to blocks and stored in distribution storage, maybe it like the concept of cloud storage, which is prompted by EMC now.
Forth, multicopy over network.
Fifth, tape backup. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, we return to the start point. Under most circumstance tape-backup is not the best choice comparing with disk-backup, but no one can discard it. If using this method, we assume disk dedupe will not lose data in most situation, if lose, whether it can be recovered, depends on our fortune or planning. If you have a careful design of tape-backup planning, such as shedule testing and recovery, dual copies in different sites, tape-backup is reliable. So why we still use dedupe?
Dedupe, using time to change space. We have powerful calculation, but limit disk space(more expensive than tape). To save space must consume CPU, alse using more CPU in recovery.
Another question, how long the method of dedupe can exist. Tape can be preserved in tens of year, but dedupe device? The deduped data must be re-stored or re-backuped in tapes at last, untill we found other mothed to replace tape.
by IT1999
at 1:00am, Feb. 19, 2009
If you want to use up all your Gmail mailbox as online backup drive, you should try this, GMail Drive shell extension.
Gmail provides 7GB+ mailbox, but we use little of it for email. It’s a good idea that we can store something in it with convinence tool, that’s why GMail Drive shell extension released. It sends email to your Gmail account with special excutable program, but the operation is the same as network drive, just like your Mozy Drive. No email client, no web login, no upload, just copy and paste files you want to backup, nothing else to do. Cool ?
Refer: http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
The following content is copied from above URL.
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Mail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag’n'drop files to.
Ever since Google started to offer users a Gmail e-mail account, which includes storage space of 6000 megabytes, you have had plenty of storage space but not a lot to fill it up with. With GMail Drive you can easily copy files to your Google Mail Account and retrieve them again.
When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer.
You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag’n'drop like you’re used to with the normal Explorer folders.
Because the Gmail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.
Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There’s still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters). Since the tool hooks up with the free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool’s ability to function. I cannot guarantee that files stored in this manner will be accessible in the future.
Today, tested WordPress database recover backuped by “WordPress Database Backup”
1. I have set up WordPress Database Backup to backup WordPress database daily and email to my gmail account
2. download the last database backup file .sql.gz from gmail
3. open phpMyAdmin, choose import, and select .gz file downloaded
4. apply.
Succeed!
My backup plan:
1. Plugin using auto-update, and download plugins and other directories to local by FTP
2. WordPress Database backuped by “WordPress Database Backup“, and email to Gmail daily.
3. local files backup to Mozy.com daily.
Tested ADrive today in order to find online backup product.
ADrive offers 50GB free space, it’s amazing.
Scine there is no possible to maintain backup files with browser, ADrive client was tested directly.
I’m not satisfied with testing result. ADrive uses ftp as transport protocol with no security options(free user).
5 minutes after client installation, removed it.
ADriver is more suitable for large unimportant files backup, if you want to use up its 50GB free space.
Today, tested mozy.com online backup.
1. register on mozy.com with email you prefered, it will send a confirmation letter(or URL).
2. password and personal information is filled.
3. check teh email, and click confirmation URL
4. download Mozy client software, and install
5. Run client software and login. Login process responsed slowly, wait for about 1 minute.
6. Choose encryption method(using recommend), config initial backup, and it will test bandwith of Internet
7. After initial backup, web login to view the resulte and find the files backuped.
Mozy Website: http://www.mozy.com Mozy Computer Backup, Remote Backup, and Internet Backup
Screenshot
WordPress Database Backup: http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup
Thank Austin Matzko, who writes so useful plugin for WordPress.
I used to backup WordPress(MySQL) using phpMyAdmin, it requires manual dump database or tables, no automation, neither shedule. And there is size limitation of dump file.
“WordPress Database Backup” can use my Gmail to store db-backup files, because it’ll send WordPress db-dump as attachment in a daily email. The function of scheduled backup, such as once per day, reduces my daily works on phpMyAdmin.
“WordPress Database Backup” is the most useful plugin which every WordPress’r should plug in.
This is the URL:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/
Click download on the Top-Right corner.
or
WordPress Database Backup: http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup