[PLUG] A survey of backup philosophies/methods?

[Richard Owlett]

On 12/28/2018 03:34 PM, Ben Koenig wrote:
> You seem to be looking for a reliable work space, not a backup. Low-level
> OS hacking requires a scratch system isolated from the rest of the world.

<chuckle>
When I first started exploring Debian I used one physical machine for a 
day-to-day work machine and my internet connection. For my experimenting 
I used a second physical machine without any connection to the first. 
That evolved to having a "working" install on one disk partition and my 
"experimental"install on a separate partition.

My goal is to have a protocol for data accumulated on my "working" 
install and multiple "experimental" installs. I currently a chaotic 
collection of ad hoc partial file copies -- hesitate to refer to them as 
"backups".

> 
> 
> If your plan is to learn about the "guts of Linux" then at some point you
> will peel away at the subsystems used for networking. It would be a shame
> if - in the name of education - you somehow broke your network config and
> were unable to reach out to PLUG for help.

I'm an obsessive compulsive paranoid of keeping the two types isolated.

> 
> 
> For you, a reasonable backup may be nothing more than a solid, well-built
> computer running a long-term support OS. Maybe throw in a basic RAID1 just
> for giggles.
> 

I sub-topic of learning the "guts" of Linux is learning how to establish 
a suitable backup protocol.

> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Dec 25, 2018 at 8:27 AM Richard Owlett <rowlett at cloud85.net> wrote:
> 
>> On 12/22/2018 06:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> For years I've told others to have backups.
>>
>> In a way THAT is the source of my confusion.
>> The others owned a computer to accomplish a specific task.
>> Therefore it was clear "Why backup?"
>>
>> I however have essentially a self education project - "How to do an
>> ideal install". The deliverable, so to speak, is some understanding of
>> the guts of Linux. Data loss would be more an inconvenience than a
>> disaster. The data might be compared to notes accumulated when writing a
>> paper. Since the majority of the content is from archived mailing lists
>> an appropriate web search could retrieve most of it. I would lose my
>> indexes primarily. I think I know how to prioritize. It will have a side
>> benefit of helping me better organize things.
>>
>>
>>
>>> My primary machine just went to the shop which reminded me I should be
>>> more organized and current myself.
>>>
>>> Any recommended survey articles?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>