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Date:      Sun, 02 Aug 1998 11:59:22 -0500
From:      David Deaven <deaven@execpc.com>
To:        Benedikt Stockebrand <benedikt@devnull.ruhr.de>
Cc:        Andrew Bromage <bromage@queens.unimelb.edu.au>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: CD writers as a backup medium 
Message-ID:  <199808021659.LAA29683@pop05.execpc.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "01 Aug 1998 12:53:18 %2B0200." <874svxm0rl.fsf@devnull.ruhr.de> 

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>Andrew Bromage <bromage@queens.unimelb.edu.au> writes:
>
>> Just wondered if anyone had thoughts on using a CD writer with
>> FreeBSD-stable as a backup medium.
>
>Writing a CD-ROM on a machine that is doing other things as well is
>bound to cause trouble.  Your backups will be plain unreliable.

I do it all the time for backups and audio burns.  It works fine, even while I 
am launching/using netscape and other high-resource apps.  I have also done 
burns during the time that the /etc/daily runs go, which hits the disk pretty 
hard. Note that cdrecord has built-in buffering and my SCSI CDRW (ricoh) has a 
2Mb internal buffer; this may help.  On the otherhand, I have garden-variety 
IDE disks, which should limit me.

I always write checksums and read the data off the CD to verify, and I have 
not had any errors in ~100 backups to a CDRW or CDR (I usually use a 
rewriteable, just saves the hassle of buying media, and occasionally burn a 
permanent CDR to store off site).

For me, the choice of how to do backups on a $400 budget was clear.  My CD-RW 
gives me everything I need for backups, *plus* the ability to make CDs to 
share with others, and audio CDs for fun.  If you are considering a CDRW, 
don't be scared off by the prospect of unreliable burns.  It isn't that 
sensitive.


-- 
-------------------------------------
David Deaven        deaven@execpc.com
http://www.execpc.com/~deaven




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