[UCIMC-Tech] cheap offsite backup, non-networked

[Barry Isralewitz]

Hi Ben,

	Was chambana.net's storage in the 200 GB range?  If so, here are a  
couple of solutions for non-network physical offsite backup.  If real  
number is > 200 GB, we can recalculate.
   Option 1. looks pretty good at todays prices. Option 2 is pretty  
good, but may soon become great deal (see below)
=========
1. Rotating disks. $397.  Use two external drives. One drive  is  
updated daily (e.g. w/ rsnapshot), stays online and plugged-in in  
server room. The other drive stays unplugged in sysadmin's home. Swap  
the 1st of each month.

	Total cost: $397 (may be lower, I spent zero time bargain-hunting)
	Two external 500 GB external Firewire drives,  one padded carrying  
case.
	($179.99 * 2 ) + $37.02 = $397.00
===
a) External 500 GB external Firewire drive
  Western Digital My Book Premium 500 GB External Hard Drive with  
Dual Interface ( WDG1C5000N ) (has Firewire 400, USB 2.0)
$179.99
http://tinyurl.com/35xxcz
(Amazon.com, delivery)

b) Padded carrying case
  My Book™ Carrying Case  WDCC04RNN   (direct from Western Digital)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/accessories.asp?ProdID=300

$37.02, shipping included.
===

$200 each, such as
	
	$200*2 = $400
	Maybe $40 more for padded cases.
	
=====

2. Recently-obsoleted tape technology. $625 used, $1300 new.  This is  
before hunting bargains; plus likely get much cheaper over next 3  
months, since a new generation of tape tech. has just been released.

	The advantage over rotating disk is that _many_ cheap, independent  
offline and offsite copies can be made, which greatly helps chances  
of recovery after data loss.  Storing multiple snapshots  can be  
additionally useful in recovering from just-discovered long-past  
human error, and for saving huge time by finding old configuration  
files and similar. (Of course, you'd exempt a few log files from  
backup to meet IMC privacy/anonymity standards)
	
   LTO-2 tape drives and tapes:
About $635 delivered, used drive + 5 new tapes (likely can find  
better deal)
About $1200 for new drive +  5 new tapes.
    But over the next 3 months, this is all likely to become cheaper  
as LTO-4 drives become widely available. The very first LTO-4 drives  
shipped in April 2007.  When LTO-4 tape drives (tape capacity= 800 GB  
uncompressed) are widely avaialble, this will drive down the price of  
LTO-3 drives (400 GB uncompressed), and likely further drive down  
prices of LTO-2 drives (200 GB uncompressed)

	
Backup speeds of an $1100 LTO-2 drive listed as 144 GB/hour. The $500  
used drive below claims 113 GB/hour.

===
Sample prices:
Used LTO-2 drives start at $200, with many apparently acceptable used  
ones around $500 "buy it now".  For example, this $520 ($485+ 
$35shipping) Dell drive, runs at 31.5 MB=113 GB/hour
DELL ULTRIUM LTO 2-EX1 EXTER LVD SCSI TAPE DRIVE18P9056 (ebay)

http://tinyurl.com/yux8wv

	
Five LTO-2 tapes (new, sealed pack):
  $125
http://tinyurl.com/24z6zm
(ebay.com)



=========

	Hope this helps.

			Cheers,

			Barry
	
-- 
Barry Isralewitz   Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, UIUC
Beckman 3043   Office Phone: (217) 244-1612  Home Phone: (217) 337-6364
email: barryi at ks.uiuc.edu      http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~barryi