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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clarence Dodge who wrote (7582)	5/23/1999 11:13:00 PM
From: Dan Spangenberg	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14778

Just a few comments on the latest topic (backups mirrors etc.) It seems to me that unless your needs are very elaborate and high level (24/7 total fault tolerance and redundancy) then one would be best served by KISS (keep it simple stupid) If you are really dead set on having a realtime, constant backup/mirror of your current system, why not just buy another disk and enable mirroring (RAID 1) at the system level? It is very effective and operates at the system level not relying on separate software to run. Granted it is not as effective in scheduling and file selection, but it works and nothing offers as good of protection against a drive going down. The data is written simultaneously to both drives. Multiple computers, multiple OS's, dialup connections, NT etc are all complex enough to require quite a bit of juggling, which can be a definite diversion from trading. I would rather focus my time on trading. I also like to keep my trading machine very "clean" without alot of excess services, software and "stuff". Nothing runs as nice as a fresh install of NT. To accomplish this, lately I have loosely adopted the following practice: I always put as large as possible dos partition (2 gig) on the drive first. This is C: and formatted Fat. I install PM and DI there as well as a few other utilities. The remainder of the space is to hold a few DI images. I always install NT this way,it puts a few files on the C: drive and then everything else whereever I want it. I then get to a good solid NT Install, with current service packs, network and internet connectivity, browsers, mail client and a few other basic software packages, and I then DI it (Drive Image) to the dos partition. As the system progresses I may also make successive images prior to doing major upgrades or installs, this allows me to "back up" without worrying too much. If my system gets totally trashed, it is easy to get back to where I want. I use backup exec for daily scheduled backups of all data files, and also the entire system every now and then. Backup exec is a great product. I need to try out the the current version of the intelligent disaster recovery again. This roughly outlines my approach. I think that simplicity is the key. When something goes down or won't boot, it MUST be easy and foolproof to fix. I have had too complex an approach before, and find I cause more damage trying to fix it. If the emergency system is too complex, it serves no purpose. I also think that a system must be tested before failure, I routinely restore an image file and make sure everything is OK. That is it for me, liberal DI images, data backup to tape and focus my real time on trying to be a successful trader instead of fussing with my system. Testing all this stuff takes alot of time. Sorry to bore everyone with the log post, most everyone probably already knows this stuff,(I'm always late to the party) This is just one mans opinion....comments are encouraged :-) Good Luck Dan

To: Clarence Dodge who wrote (7582)	5/24/1999 8:35:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14778

In lieu of 2Copy/BxCopy/Auto Mirror here's another that has the Open File Handler, which 2Copy doesn't but the other two(BxCopy and Auto Mirror) do and has a non real-time version which Bx and Auto don't but 2Copy does. I hope you know what I mean. Gotch ya. Lots of stuff to digest. My take on Bxcopy and Auto Mirror is they are real time mirroring. If One wants real time mirroring RAID 1 (as noted by Dan) is probably the best solution. IMO Real time mirroring is only good for servers and real time critical operations. 2Copy and Suresync seem more closely related. Suresync seems to have more options and only a slight price premium. Also works in Win9x and NT which is important to me. What can Backup exec do that Suresync can not do? I prefer to see files in their original format. I want my files available from any machine without having to use a restore function...and the ability to use Explorer search functions. It seems like 2Copy and Suresync both do this. Backup Exec requires a restore function. Will Backup Exec do a complete restore like Drive Image? ie Will it maintain a 'delayed mirror' of the C drive..something one can restore as a bootable clone of the C drive? I make Drive Images but I want an automated equivalent of drive Image. I have better things to do with my time...also I get behind with backups unless they are automated. you should go back and read Spots recent disk config posts... I do not miss any of Spot's posts (actually I read everyone's posts..) The G incident is interesting. It does not follow the rules described in the PM manual. ie the the first Master IDE drive is the C drive if it is the boot drive. Spots proved otherwise. Maybe it has something to do with the signature NT puts on a drive the first time Disk Administrator looks at it. Zeuspaul