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Tech Magazine Loses June Issue, No Backup

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the happens-to-everyone dept.

Gareth writes "Business 2.0, a magazine published by Time, has been warning their readers against the hazards of not taking backups of computer files. So much so that in an article published by them in 2003, they 'likened backups to flossing — everyone knows it's important, but few devote enough thought or energy to it.' Last week, Business 2.0 got caught forgetting to floss as the magazine's editorial system crashed, wiping out all the work that had been done for its June issue. The backup server failed to back up."

3 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. How does this actually happen? by Orange+Crush · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There aren't a lot of ways for a machine to "crash" that loses all its data. Even a lightning-fried hard drive can have its platters removed by a data recovery lab and many files can be pulled off. A mechanical failure doesn't grind the platters into sand. As a network server it really should have a RAID too. So how exactly can "the server crash" so spectacularly that the RAID, backups, and widely available data recovery services all fail? Did the building blow up?

  2. Re:Wrong problem by RetroGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The troublesome process is the restore.

    I heard a story about a LAN admin who was doing backups every night. The tapes would go into a safe, then would go offsite, then be used again.

    Everything worked well(?) until they needed to do a restore. The tape in the safe was corrupt. The tape at the offsite storage was corrupt. No tape was good.

    It seems that the LAN admin made tea every morning. The electric kettle sat on top of the steel safe.

    So the backup tape was placed into the safe, then the kettle was started, magnetizing the safe, and erasing the tape.

    Not ONCE did anyone try to do a test restore to prove the system.
    --

    - - - - - - - - - - -
    I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
  3. Re:Wrong problem by mseeger · · Score: 3, Interesting
    > Would mirrored drives be a more effective solution?

    Yes and No:

    • Mirrored drives are a good protection against drive failures and (usually) offer an easy restore process. If you mirror a drive and put the copy away (e.g. into a safe) this is a real and widely used backup method. As always you should at least try once to boot the system while removing the primary disk. Somtimes RAID controllers have some irks too.
    • This method usually depends on the availability of a certain hardware, if you cannot get a new mainboard or raid controller of the same type, the mirrored disk contains data you may have trouble getting at. You may ignore this issue, if you have the same hardware at a safe location again.
    Regards, Martin