[TriLUG] Re: backup methodology

[Douglas Kojetin]

I've got a question about the best method for backup in my situation. 
 We've got 3 computers each w/ 2 80 GB drives.  They are not nearly full 
by any means, and I'd say that at most each computer would have maybe 20 
(up to 40+ on a rare day) for backup.  

I've got an old pentium packard bell that I was going to use as an FTP 
server, but perhaps using it as a backup server might be better suited 
for our needs.  It just seems like a lot of data to use 'tar' or 'rsync' 
for .. or is it?  Or is it best (with the size of it all; the data is on 
one partition only ... /home ... and a /misc partition) to make an image 
of the partition and save to backup machine?  If so, how would i go 
about doing that (and setting it up for a weekly backup? or should i go 
more than weekly?  sorry, i'm new to this).

We also have a DVD writer (mostly used under windows so far) ... are 
these well supported under Linux (it's the external Sony DVD +/- R & RW).

Thanks for the input-
Doug