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Linux Backup With DVD Media?

Posted by Cliff on from the seeking-larger-backup-media dept.

Dan asks: "Our research group just moved into a new lab, and I am in charge of organizing the computer systems. A graduate student half-joked about finding a way to get the lab a DVD burner. At first I thought using DVD for backup would be cumbersome, but then I found a few products designed for backups. I targeted a DVDRAM Jukebox by Powerfile for $4000. While it appears to be a good solution for nightly backups, Powerfile does not support Linux. After searching for topics on Linux support for DVD backup systems, I found an unsupported script that was hacked together. There must be more support out there, right? Has anyone else had experience with using DVD as an automated backup system? It wouldn't be such a good idea to spend $4000 on hardware we couldn't guarantee to work, but it would be sweet to have a jukebox DVD burner running on Linux."

3 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Why can't anyone ignore what they don't like by redcliffe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Instead of complaining about it in what should overwise be an interesting thread?

  2. Shut up. It *does* belong here. by torpor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I read /. every day. It's interesting, often fun, and more often than not, quite educational.

    Having the odd slightly-off-kilter hardware question posted on /. for public commentary is a valuable part of that experience.

    Sure, google is easy to use, but you don't get to share the results of the effort, nor talk about the circumstances, with thousands of other geeks.

    *That* is the value inherent in Ask Slashdot stuff like this.

    Those that moan about it just don't get it.

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  3. How reliable? by Bazman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are lots of reports that DVDs burnt on one box aren't readable/playable in another. Check out articles on www.vcdhelp.com for examples (mainly video-related).

    I burnt some video CDs on different CD-R and CD-RW media and found that some friends' DVD players played some and not others, and some played none, and few played them all. I think there are similar problems with DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM. Its put me off buying a DVD burner for video just yet.

    So, do you want to trust your backups to media that might not be readable on a different model device should your one blow up?

    Baz