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I Nearly Lost All of My Data

kevq.uk

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Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#151

Post by daveFNbuck »

300bps wrote: post #63
x220 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but don't you think having a raid array but not having a surge protector is missing the forest for the trees?

I re-read the article twice and didn’t see him mention he didn’t have a surge suppressor. Did I miss it or are you assuming that he didn’t have a surge suppressor? As others have said, electronics can get fried by power surges while plugged into even commercial grade surge suppressors. Home grade surge suppressors provide even less protection.

He didn't mention having one either. It's weird not to mention anything at all about surge protection in a story about a power surge destroying important equipment. I'd assume if he had one he'd mention the state it was in after his equipment was destroyed.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#152

Post by m3nu »

rsync wrote: post #135

Hard to believe we are 129 comments into this and there are zero mentions of 'borg' in the comment threads ... For those that don't know, borg is a backup utility[1] that has been called the "holy grail of backups"[2]. It takes your plaintext files and directories, chops them into gpg-encrypted chunks with encrypted, random filenames, and will upload (and maintain) them, with an efficient, changes-only update, to any…

Let's also mention Vorta, an open source GUI for Borg to make it as easy to use as commercial backup tools. We just started translating into different languages. All input and PRs are welcome.

https://github.com/borgbase/vorta/

(I'm the original author, but Thomas, the current Borg maintainer is also very active.)

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#153

Post by travoltaj »

rsync wrote: post #135

Hard to believe we are 129 comments into this and there are zero mentions of 'borg' in the comment threads ... For those that don't know, borg is a backup utility[1] that has been called the "holy grail of backups"[2]. It takes your plaintext files and directories, chops them into gpg-encrypted chunks with encrypted, random filenames, and will upload (and maintain) them, with an efficient, changes-only update, to any…

Have you looked into Bareos?

I'm setting up backups and looked into most available solutions, including restic, borg, and duplicity, but Bareos by far seems the best one. It's just a little harder to set up, but totally worth it.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#154

Post by Jaruzel »

derekp7 wrote: post #13

The best solution I found as an alternative to an off-site copy is to set up a USB drive and something like a Raspberry Pi in my car. When I pull into the garage, the house server senses it and syncs new data to it. This can be supplemented further by having it auto sync to a computer in your office whenever you pull into work. Add in some monitoring so you can get a phone alert if any of the synced copies are more t…

When I had my new 'Man Shed' (It's a large workshop really[1]) built at the end of my garden, I ensured I could extend my network to it. I have an old NAS with a couple of large drives in it, and I have scheduled backups that write to it from the main file server in the house.

It's not perfect, but it's way better than not having any offsite backups at all. I have a deep distrust of Cloud storage services so for me I think this setup is the best solution I'm going to get.

---

[1] I'm in the UK, so our typical 'sheds' are absolutely tiny - this one is not.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#155

Post by avian »

blitmap wrote: post #144
rsync wrote: post #135

Hard to believe we are 129 comments into this and there are zero mentions of 'borg' in the comment threads ... For those that don't know, borg is a backup utility[1] that has been called the "holy grail of backups"[2]. It takes your plaintext files and directories, chops them into gpg-encrypted chunks with encrypted, random filenames, and will upload (and maintain) them, with an efficient, changes-only update, to any…

I feel as though you are missing a "Disclaimer: ...", though I will be looking at borg. :-)

I've been using Borg (and it's predecessor, Attic), for a while now and I'm very happy with it. Perhaps my only complaint would be that at one time they changed the hashing function which exploded the size of the repo for a while (since content was getting stored twice until all the old chunks were rotated out). Duplicity managed to lose my data several times, but so far I didn't have any such bad experiences with Borg.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#156

Post by Symbiote »

Introvertuous wrote: post #12
x220 wrote: post #6

>I don’t know what happened for sure, but I think it may have been a power surge that fried the boards on both the Synology and the USB, as they were plugged in to the same socket. He didn't have a surge protector? Sweet Jesus. I don't plug my backed-up PC into anything not surge protected.

I wouldn't plug any PC into anything not surge protected...

I have never used a surge protector, and I don't think I've ever seen one in a home or office.

Much of Europe uses buried cables, so there's less risk from lightning strikes, and I think the higher line voltage (230V) reduces the effect of something like a dodgy elevator motor in the same billing.

I have visited the US a few times, where I remember the lights would dim momentarily if the garbage compactor or the dryer were used.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#157

Post by lostlogin »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #45
gtirloni wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the RaspberryPi have enough CPU for disk encryption?

RaspberryPis can emulate Mario Kart on an N64, run Minecraft on Linux and even Mathematica at decent speeds; I'm willing to bet big bucks they can handle symmetric key encryption (which does not require much power). If a crappy NAS can run disk encryption, so can a raspberry pi. They're deceivingly potent.

> RaspberryPis can emulate Mario Kart on an N64

Yes they can, and Golden Eye. I have just played Mario Kart with the kid before bedtime. It stutters a little if you have too many karts on screen, but that’s not a problem when you’re winning.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#158

Post by lostlogin »

ttmb wrote: post #125

There really isn't a story here, Kev. You blew a power supply on your Synology. You even said it yourself: "maybe this is a problem with the enclosures and the disks are fine". If you'd put your disks into a replacement Synology unit, you would have been back online - config, data, and all - within a few minutes.

The Synology unit isn’t cheap and it’s for backups - surely it warrants a surge protector. Easy to say after the event however.

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#159

Post by bornabox »

It's a common scenario, unfortunately. Synology RAID is nice. External USB on the same power circuit is not a good idea. Actually, I'd look at least into a surge protector. But it's quite possible to have those blow up and still fry your hardware.

I'd run some batteries in the basement and run my Synology (or similar) off of those. Additionally, the USB Backup of backups should be in the garage or the attic, if at all possible. Also, a nice cloud-backup solution that is capable of delta-uploads is a very good idea (cover against fire in the house, or any other "catastrophic" failure).

If you don't have DC experience or if you didn't do much hardware, it's common to over-focus on software. And to be fair, vice-versa :)

Re: I Nearly Lost All of My Data

#160

Post by teh_klev »

ttmb wrote: post #125

There really isn't a story here, Kev. You blew a power supply on your Synology. You even said it yourself: "maybe this is a problem with the enclosures and the disks are fine". If you'd put your disks into a replacement Synology unit, you would have been back online - config, data, and all - within a few minutes.

Agreed. There's also something janky about the power supplies on some Synologys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ly8zde3dE

And joy of joy's it's not a standard off the shelf part, and pray you're not outside the warranty period because the price of a spare is eye watering.

Steve has posted a few other videos about failed Synology's, worth a watch before parting with you cash.

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