From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   Jim Beard wrote:   
   > On 06/16/2012 04:10 PM, Adam wrote:   
   >>>> I have a partition for automated nightly tarball backups on my   
   >>>> external HD.  I'm going to change it to VFAT so it can be read by   
   >>>> Windows or Mac.   
      
   The main reason is to eliminate the problem of Windows or Macs having to   
   read an ext3/4 filesystem.  The existing VFAT partition on my external   
   HD includes utilities for Windows and Macs to (a) read files on an ext3   
   partition and (b) extract files from gzip tarballs.  This would   
   eliminate the first part of that, as it's difficult or impossible to   
   test those utilities under the OS they're for.  At least I could copy my   
   backup tarball to a flash drive.   
      
   BTW to keep a record of at least what files exist and their permissions,   
   periodically I do "ls -lAR / > /etc/allperms".   
      
   > For my working backup, I simply rsync all directories I want backed up   
   > (/bin, /etc ...) into a directory such as 2011pwp on a 1T external disk   
      
   I'll have to learn something about rsync.  I don't backup /bin or   
   anything else that could be recreated from the repositories or a   
   reinstall.  Right now my backup scripts have:   
      
   INCLUDE="/home /accounts /root /etc /usr/local \   
   	/var/lib /var/log /var/spool/mail /var/spool/postfix \   
   	/boot/grub/menu.lst"   
      
   > All of my old Mandriva 2008   
   > and 2009 backups (and earlier) are now tarballed, with 2010 in part   
   > tarball and in part another rsync'd directory.   
      
   I only keep backups for the past few months (right now, since last   
   November).  Things like classwork worth keeping, my book project, etc.   
   get backed up to a CD separately.   
      
   > Someday this will bite me, when the external disk dies and everything on   
   > it is unrecoverable   
      
   Every week, I copy selected directories to a DVD+RW (as ordinary files,   
   not a tarball - I use three discs and rotate them), and every month I   
   copy that DVD and store it 20 miles away as offsite backup.  If my home   
   is completely destroyed, I'll still have a backup from the previous   
   month.  If something happens that's big enough to destroy a 20-mile   
   radius, I figure I'll have worse problems than a computer backup. :-)   
      
   > So now I   
   > have two fully functional systems.  Main computer and backup computer.   
      
   This will be the first time I'll have two decent systems running, but   
   frankly I don't know yet what the second (older) one will be used for.   
      
   > Plus of course the external 1T hard drive that was deliberately acquired   
   > for backup.   
      
   My external HD was bought mainly because the internal 120 GB HD was too   
   small, although backup was a consideration.  After 3+ years, I still   
   have ~250 GB unallocated on it.   
      
   Thanks for all your very helpful and relevant advice!   
      
   Adam   
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