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Do it yourself? by Tim+Macinta · 2005-07-22 08:31 · Score: 1 · on Online Backup Solutions?

Well, for the ultimate in control, you could do it yourself. That's fairly easy if you're running Linux - 'cron', plus 'gpg', plus 'scp' is relatively simple and secure. You just need a server at a managed hosting provider like Rackspace or ServerMatrix.

Windows may be a different story. I have been toying around with the idea of releasing some software that let's you do something similar in Windows. I've written some peer to peer backup software that will let you share backups among the computers in your office. It also has an experimental feature that let's you also backup offsite to a web server running PHP (so you can use a commodity provider which is generally far cheaper than managed hosting). I haven't released that feature yet, but will probably do so if enough people express interest.

Magic Mirror Backup by Kalak · 2004-12-21 14:09 · Score: 1 · on Sought for MGM v. Grokster: Non-Infringing P2P Use

Magic Mirror Backup is a P2P Backup system. Looks nice for smaller departments. I may look into using it at home, but 2 of the computers out of the 5 are Mac, and it's Win & Linux only. Maybe I'll learn porting to Darwin for fun.

Backups by Tim+Macinta · 2004-12-20 03:27 · Score: 1 · on Sought for MGM v. Grokster: Non-Infringing P2P Use

I'm not sure if this is too dissimilar or not, but using peer to peer networks for backups should generally be non-infringing.

Network backup by Tim+Macinta · 2004-10-10 08:32 · Score: 1 · on Backups to CD-R?

If you have more than one computer on your local network, then why not have them backup to each other? It's much more convenient (and reliable) than messing with CD-Rs. On Linux this is pretty simple to do with 'cron' and 'rsync'. On Windows, there are some tools coming onto the market right now to do the same thing and I'm going to shamelessly plug my own. It's called Magic Mirror Backup and you can download it at http://www.pensamos.com/mmb/ . Version 1.0 is free, it works on Windows and Linux, and it will make automatic, daily backups for you without having to mess with CD-Rs, tapes, or other media.

What happens if something like a hurricane destroys all your computers at once? (Realistically, you would need to ask yourself the same question if you used CD-Rs or tapes - if something wipes out your home/office, those backups are likely to be gone too.) There is also an option to backup to an off-site server. The server software is plain old PHP and should run on most commodity $3/month web hosting services, making for a relatively cheap, do-it-yourself backup. I haven't decided yet whether to just offer a (paid) monthly service myself or to release the PHP code so that people can set up their own servers. I'm open to feedback. The local P2P backup will remain free for the first version, in any case.

Network backup by Tim+Macinta · 2004-10-10 08:32 · Score: 1 · on Backups to CD-R?

If you have more than one computer on your local network, then why not have them backup to each other? It's much more convenient (and reliable) than messing with CD-Rs. On Linux this is pretty simple to do with 'cron' and 'rsync'. On Windows, there are some tools coming onto the market right now to do the same thing and I'm going to shamelessly plug my own. It's called Magic Mirror Backup and you can download it at http://www.pensamos.com/mmb/ . Version 1.0 is free, it works on Windows and Linux, and it will make automatic, daily backups for you without having to mess with CD-Rs, tapes, or other media.

What happens if something like a hurricane destroys all your computers at once? (Realistically, you would need to ask yourself the same question if you used CD-Rs or tapes - if something wipes out your home/office, those backups are likely to be gone too.) There is also an option to backup to an off-site server. The server software is plain old PHP and should run on most commodity $3/month web hosting services, making for a relatively cheap, do-it-yourself backup. I haven't decided yet whether to just offer a (paid) monthly service myself or to release the PHP code so that people can set up their own servers. I'm open to feedback. The local P2P backup will remain free for the first version, in any case.

I'm working on something like this by Tim+Macinta · 2004-09-12 06:22 · Score: 1 · on Cringely's P2P Backup Idea

I've been working on something like this for awhile. It's not entirely the same as what Cringely proposed, but it's a step in that direction and I'd like to continue working on it and making it more evolved if there is interest in it. Currently, it's meant for intranet use, so the machines in your office can easily backup to each other. That's obviously not hurricane-proof, but it does help protect against a single point of failure. Also, I am about to add the option to let you make backups to an off-site server as well - I will be running the off-site servers initially, but the server software will work on any commodity $3/month PHP web hosting service, so people could theoretically run it themselves if keeping data internal ends up being a big concern.

I am going to release the first beta "real soon now" (sorry - my time is limited since I'm getting married next month), and there is currently an alpha version out for Windows and Linux at: http://www.pensamos.com/mmb/ The alpha version is a little rough around the edges, but I plan to smooth things out over time if there is enough interest. I welcome all feedback. Thank you.

On the plus side... by Tim+Macinta · 2004-06-14 10:39 · Score: 1 · on Seagate Rolls Out 400 GB SATA Drives

But the only thing short of a really long tape that you can backup these things to in one media is another 400GB hdd. (it would still be 86 4.7GB DVDs)

The nice thing about that is that it makes for a great excuse to have a second machine (yeah you're backing up to another 400GB hdd, it just happens to be in another machine). It's a symbiotic relationship - each machine backs up to another. I don't for the life of me see why any small business with more than 1 PC would not do this. This is really very easy to set up in Linux with 'rsync' and 'cron', and in Windows... well, I'm working on it. The program I'm working on won't exactly handle 400GB very well because it makes a full backup every time, but I do plan to address this by adding incremental support if there is enough interest in it. Also, it's free as in beer (and some of the libraries it uses are LGPL).

It's not about learning, it's about plagiarism by Tim+Macinta · 2004-02-20 07:56 · Score: 4, Interesting · on Morphing Code to Prevent Reverse Engineering?

Sure. But what will they learn? How the code processes MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED? How you use sockets? How you show that nifty splash screen? I mean... who cares?

"Super-secret" algorithms aside, it's not so much that I'm worried they will learn how to do what I did, it's more that I don't want people reusing my code without permission. I've found people who have copied pages from my website almost verbatim, and even one person who blatantly plagiarized a page of my and changed "Copyright Tim Macinta" to "Copyright his name"! Granted, that's a little easier to do with HTML than with Java, but if it's simple to protect against by using an obfuscator, then why not? I really wouldn't mind people learning from my code, it is actually reusing the code without permission and without attribution that I am protecting against. I'm not just being paranoid - I had somebody email me the source code to an applet I wrote once (which he apparently decompiled) with a note along the lines of "Ha, ha! Now I have your source!" I don't know what motivates these people, but there are enough of them out there that I have since started obfuscating almost everything as a basic precaution.

Going off topic now, but, anyhow, nifty!

Thanks. It's not as off-topic as you think. I used obfuscation with MMB (which is a client side Java app) to prevent plagiarism and reduce the siez (barely). Nothing about it is "super-secret", although it is a little more complex than just routing MouseEvents around.

Re:Yes by tcopeland · 2004-02-20 07:32 · Score: 4, Insightful · on Morphing Code to Prevent Reverse Engineering?

> in environments where every byte counts

Right, yup, obfuscation reduces class file size. Certainly, that can be important in some environments.

> anybody with a casual interest could just
> glance at your code using javap,

Sure. But what will they learn? How the code processes MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED? How you use sockets? How you show that nifty splash screen? I mean... who cares?

Going off topic now, but, anyhow, nifty!

Irony - please contact your employer by Tim+Macinta · 2003-08-18 11:18 · Score: 5, Interesting · on SCO: FSF Reply To GPL Claims, Conference Sponsors Back Off?

It's very ironic that SCO claims to be fighting for intellectual property rights when they are seeking to destroy the right of authors to control how their work is distributed. There is no reason that they should be attacking the legitimacy of open source licenses like this when their dispute with IBM is supposedly contractual. McBride actually admitted today that their attack is about destroying free software which is just disgusting considering that one of the core principals of IP law is that the author should be able to disseminate his work as he wishes - SCO apparently wants to destroy this choice.

I was disturbed enough by Darl McBride's statement last Friday (which he repeated again today in Vegas) that the "silent majority" of companies in the IT industry support SCO's recent actions that I had my company release a public statement of opposition to SCO. It would seem that the latest thing SCO is trying to claim ownership of is the opinion of companies that have been silent on the issue, so I am calling on companies to break the silence. If you have control over such things in your company, please get them to either copy the statement of opposition to SCO that I wrote to your company's website or write and post your own statement of opposition. Let the world know that SCO is strongly opposed within the industry and that they are truly fighting to destroy the intellectual property rights that they claim to be championing.

Irony - please contact your employer by Tim+Macinta · 2003-08-18 11:18 · Score: 5, Interesting · on SCO: FSF Reply To GPL Claims, Conference Sponsors Back Off?

It's very ironic that SCO claims to be fighting for intellectual property rights when they are seeking to destroy the right of authors to control how their work is distributed. There is no reason that they should be attacking the legitimacy of open source licenses like this when their dispute with IBM is supposedly contractual. McBride actually admitted today that their attack is about destroying free software which is just disgusting considering that one of the core principals of IP law is that the author should be able to disseminate his work as he wishes - SCO apparently wants to destroy this choice.

I was disturbed enough by Darl McBride's statement last Friday (which he repeated again today in Vegas) that the "silent majority" of companies in the IT industry support SCO's recent actions that I had my company release a public statement of opposition to SCO. It would seem that the latest thing SCO is trying to claim ownership of is the opinion of companies that have been silent on the issue, so I am calling on companies to break the silence. If you have control over such things in your company, please get them to either copy the statement of opposition to SCO that I wrote to your company's website or write and post your own statement of opposition. Let the world know that SCO is strongly opposed within the industry and that they are truly fighting to destroy the intellectual property rights that they claim to be championing.

Re:Nice. by Tim+Macinta · 2002-12-24 02:13 · Score: 2 · on Microsoft Ordered to Carry Java

actually, IBM has done something else, they have build SWT (standard window toolkit) and the footprint compaired to swing is by far better.

Thanks for the tip. I think I had looked at this awhile back, but at the time they only had support for Windows and Motif. My strategy for the peer to peer backup program I'm developing in Java has been to develop it in Swing first, since Swing is available on all platforms, and then go back and write native implementations for the platforms that need it. It's pretty easy to have multiple UIs if you separate things into model and view(s). Anyway, it sounds like the SWT could save me a bit of work on the second phase - thanks.

Re:automated solutions? by Tim+Macinta · 2002-10-16 06:51 · Score: 2, Interesting · on When Does Data Backup Become a Full Time Job?

There's no way that this kind of thing *can't* be automated with enough work. The amount of billable time spent to get such a system going has to be much less than hiring a full-time backer-upper.

To add to this thought, here are some ways that you could set up such an automated system:

As others have suggested, outsource it. There are plenty of storage service providers out there who specialize in this sort of thing and they will cost less than a full time employee.
Keep all non-OS files on a network mounted drive and build the file server(s) using RAID arrays.
Write a short shell script that tars up your files, scps them to another machine, and deletes any older backups from that other machine. Stick said script in your crontab. Now you don't have to mess with tapes (though you may want to copy the snapshots to tape every few weeks and take them offsite to guard against fire, theft, etc.).
...Or if you're in an environment that isn't easily scriptable (e.g., Windows), install a peer to peer backup solution to share backups within your office. HiveCache was mentioned here on Slashdot awhile back and it does this. I've also been working on such a solution myself which is currently in alpha testing and runs on Linux and Windows (although I think 3.5 terabytes is a bit more than it could handle at the moment). Even if these solutions don't perfectly match your needs, the cost of having them customized would most likely be less than hiring someone full time. A P2P solution would also address the original problem of growth a little better than the other solutions just because as more machines are added which require backup, those same machines add to a growing pool of storage for where backups are stored (so you don't have to worry about buying a bigger RAID array because you just surpassed X number of machines, for example).

Those are a few ideas on automating the daily plumbing of the backup process. There are also the issues of streamlining the set-up and recovery processes as well, which the original poster hinted at. Perhaps if his company is growing quickly enough, it is the actual introduction of new computers or projects into the backup process and their associated set-up which is dominating the time required for the backup process. It would stand to reason that this would be much harder to automate than the daily maintenance and perhaps this is what the poster wanted to hire somebody for, although if this is the case it would probably be best to just hire temporary help until the need subsides.

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