I have shape generating program (wire frame sphere distortions) I developed. I wanted to add shading to the shapes. So I pick a point for the light source at random and color the pixels closer to the light a little brighter than those pixels farther away from the light. Really works well.
Once I got that working, I wanted to add self-cast shadows. You know, when the generated shape twists back on itself and should cast a shadow onto itself. Never got there, still sits in my code archives as just a "cool dealie".
Shouldn't be too hard to work my code backward and calculate (or guess) where lighting is coming from. I mean heck, I am one guy and this isn't so hard.
The grid has very low losses. Even over long distances, the losses are only around 2-3%.
Given that 2-3% is actually a very large amount of energy, it still would not justify the energy (and dollar) losses of maintaining a super conducting grid.
Huge mass production of cheap, fairly efficient solar cells could might all of the worlds energy problems.
I was rear-ended during afternoon rush hour and cop (on his way home, on his own time) responded to the scene.
He didn't have to. We could have easily waited 4 hours for another cop to come along.
He was very nice and professional, calming the girl whose car was pushed into mine in a chain reaction.
I wrote a note to his superiors about how great he was.
They sent me back a thank-you which had also been copied to the superior's superior, the cop himself, and the cop's service record.
Always Always Always Always try to reward good behavior when you observe it.
It would have several dozen really small CPUs that are Linux commands/daemons literally burned into the chip.
So, much of the operating system would be hardware-based (maybe EEPROM microcode) that does much of the "core guts" of the Linux kernel (or maybe GCC libraries?).
The rest of the chip could be two or four X86 type multi-purpose CPUs.
A Microsoft CPU chip could use the same idea, but who would want it? (Winmodems, etc already have)
You probably are not the person to make this decision.
Whenever management decides on software it is by reading one-sided literature distributed by the software vendors. Never a true story. Then it is cost driven. Never mind that the platform cannot possibly solve the business problem.
Tell the developer(s) your problem. They know what the application needs to do and which different solutions can get them there. If you hire good programmers, they will make good decisions, that is OUR expertise.
When management or marketing (or worst of all -- sales) get to contribute to decisions for software platforms for development, something is REALLY WRONG.
I tend to "Pink Floyd" in situations like this.
i.e. "Run Like Hell"
Aging and death and sex are all an early part of evolution.
Amoebas and single celled organisms just split. I a very real sense, the first amoeba is still alive today. If a single cell ever gets damaged, it might ask a neighboring cell for help. They could share some genetic data (or whatever else might be needed) and the good cell could help repair the broken one. This is really dangerous for the good cell as it might become damaged in the process.
Linear reproduction does not lend itself to the sharing of information.
So, in order to share information, and hence protect the species as a whole, this willingness to share information MUST BE FORCED.
If every organism was hardwired to die, they would definitely have incentive to share genetic information before their time was up. So in reality the advent of death caused the need for sex.
Without DEATH there would be no need for SEX.
This has always been one of my favorite evolutionary rants.
Virii are not truly alive in some technical terms. They do not have mitochodria, they do not process energy, they really do not even reproduce. They trick otherwise healthy cells into doing all of this for them.
There are sulfur using lifeforms around volcanic vents on the ocean floor that do not resemble any other carbon based life forms.
It appears that the road to life was proceeded by another road of near life and weird life that evolved just like life does.
DO:
1. Show me the money/benefits/insurance/401k
2. Give me the "Say So" when it comes to my decisions. No questions asked.
3. Give me the tools/budget.
4. Give me the specs or give me time to get the specs
5. Give me the people I need
6. Let me design it, code it, test it, fix it, document it.
7. When I am done Go to step 1 with a new, different project.
DO NOT:
1. Make me attend meetings, I can do every decision by Email.
Email gives me a "paper trail" to show what decisions were really made,
when and by who. If you can say it to my face you can type it
into the damn computer.
2. Make me beg for resources. I know what I need. I will use
open source whenever possible/practical. I will not waste ANY money,
I want to take it home in my paycheck, not give it to some vendor.
3. Lock me into any software. This is my area of expertise. I do not
care that you made a stupid contract with software
vendor.
4. Keep moving the target. Lock down what we are trying
to do in a month. Then we start. You keep changing the product
during development, I am gone.
This list could go on forever, but you get the idea.
Smart people like freedom. They like responsibility.
We respect good decision makers and hate wishy washy management.
When I got to my present job there were 5 computers in boxes,
a couple of routers and hubs, an idea and me. Been going 2 years now
and the work I started has blossomed into 12 computers working
full time, doing automation work. The contract pays us for the work
our programs do, not for writing the programs. SWEET.
Years ago, I did a questionnaire thingy for people entering a college football game. One of the questions was "income bracket". I found that this very closely corresponded to the quality of shoes the respondents were wearing. Crappy shoes = Low pay. Nice quality shoes = Good Pay. Not always true, but, yes, -- it was true MOST of the time. I guess chicks just pay better attention to these things.
It is said that Einstein had 7 identical suits and just picked the next one each day.
I have 30 identical pairs of black socks. All purchased on the same day from the same store. When I grab two socks out of the drawer they ALWAYS match. They will all be faded and lose their elasticity around the same time. They will all be brought to Goodwill at the same time, and I will buy 30 new pairs at that time. Enough on socks.
I have 15 pairs of dark pants. A few black, a few navy and mostly various shades of gray. All the pants can go with basically any of my shirts (mostly).
I have 20 long sleeve, button up shirts. Almost all solid colors. The only acceptably pattern is vertical pin stripes. Always wear a v-neck undershirt.
Two pair of simple, polished black shoes and a couple of black belts.
There you have it. You do not have to do wash for two weeks at a time. You never have to "match socks". You never have to match shirts to pants. You always look good and feel good without having to put forth mental effort.
Hey, programmers are elite. Those other "artists" dress in jeans one day and silk suits the next. I just wanna look good and get a little respect. Management is for people who do not know how to code anyway.
I do not want to get off on a rant here, but, -- Doctors PRACTICE medicine.
A great deal of what doctors do is the best guess we have today (Feb 2008).
When dealing with critically ill people, doctors follow a protocol of tested (and untested) procedures that have been studied and hobbled together from the experience of other doctors. This might make it science, but it doesn't mean it is the best way to handle a certain condition or a certain patient. It is still a BEST GUESS. In 500 years, the best guesses doctors make now will be laughed at.
For example, my cholesterol is about 200. Ten years ago the limit was 230-250, five years ago the limit was 200, now doctors want our cholesterol to be less than 180, next 160? One of my doctors said once, 230 sounds like the correct number and that drug companies are pushing the number lower to SELL MORE DRUGS. No science here.
Another example. My friend's wife is a cigarette smoker. Very addicted. When she got pregnant she asked her doctors "Is the stress from quitting worse than the smoking itself?" She kept asking different doctors this question until one gave her the answer she wanted. (Her kid turned out fine BTW.)
I believe almost nothing the medical profession tells me. Everyone wants me to take a pill for something that can be solved with diet and exercise. YOU are the biggest champion of your good health. If something a doctor says sounds fishy, look it up, read the internet like crazy, then make your own opinion.
Doctors are like auto mechanics that are not allowed to open the hood.
Try reading the hardest book I have ever picked up.
"The Art of Happiness"
Really, really hard for me to read. That is because I keep stopping and wrestling with the concepts, observations and ideas presented in the book.
It has definitely made me happier, more willing to stop and see the "big picture" (whatever that is).
The greatest impact this book has had on me has been to accept other people as viable human beings, with faults and problems, and to see we are all really just trying to be happy.
Oh, yeah, the placebos show that almost all of us have the power within ourselves to change the way we think, feel and respond.
Socio/Psycho - the true path
on
Ethics In IT
·
· Score: 1
I always thought the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath, was that a psychopath DOES NOT know the difference between right and wrong, and the sociopath DOES know the difference between right and wrong, but, just does not care about it.
OK, so how much is the FBI knowing your fingerprint, iris scan and DNA profile going to affect your privacy?
In what universe does knowledge of your biostatistical data impede on your freedom?
You DO NOT have the freedom to commit murder, arson or terrorism.
If you are not involved in something illegal, the FBI doesn't give a crap about you.
They aren't going to track your movement around the US with this info (that's what traffic cams are for). They aren't going to fingerprint that baggie you tossed that had your pot in it (it costs about $1000 to fully process a fingerprint).
So many have this idea that they are watching you. YOU AREN'T EVIL enough for the FBI to care!!!! They are up to their elbows in REAL BAD GUYS and YOU DON'T MAKE THE CUT.
I imagine when the world is at peace and they run out of real bad guys, then you can be paranoid.
But I do not see whirled peas (world peace) in my lifetime.
I have been so angry at jobs I have left that I have been tempted to do bad things to the network/data/servers/etc.
Whenever leaving such a job, I have always taken the high road. I did the worst thing possible, I left them without telling them the REAL reason for leaving. This way they can hire more sysadmins who will also leave. Those companies will never get their stuff together!
Now we can all be strapped to chairs and "vaccinated" both physically and mentally until all of our bad habits, bad thoughts and general evilness is gone. Just do not play Beethoven while undergoing treatment (because that would be immoral). It really is okay to take away free will.
HHHMMM, So -- they will probably invent a vaccine that eliminates ALL euphoria -- whether from drugs, food, or even a "natural high". This will prevent any of us from feeling better than the others. Think "Harrison Bergeron". We really all should feel and think exactly the same as everyone else.
Actually, I am waiting for the "permanent drug" - you take it once, the body NEVER eliminates it, and you feel the uplifting euphoric phase FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
I read this book years ago. It makes you think about features people come to expect in programs. The author is about "putting in ALL on the programmer". What I mean is, many of his ideas are great, but are very hard to implement.
Some example pointers: "Infinite undos - keep track of EVERYTHING done in the program, and let the go backward and forward through the changes", another: "Silently fail - when a user clicks on the wrong thing, DO NOT make a pop-up that says - 'You did something bad', just do nothing, the user doesn't need to be told he is stupid".
Actually the book is extremely short on actual implementation, but that part is up to you.
This is also true of general competence and incompetence...
People who are truly incompetent in their field have no clue of what real competence is (in that field). Those people tend to believe that they are the only competent people and that everyone else is out to get them.
Only those who are actually competent can see their own shortcomings and try to overcome them.
This is not my theory, someone more competent than me pointed it out to me, and I have held it as a truth ever since.
Once in a while I take a small change and tell the client/boss/myself that it is a really BIG change.
Then I go through a totally re-write the code from end-to-end. I look for unused sections, variables, etc. I re-order all the logic so that it is logical. Then I test for the necessary period of time.
Since most of the code is already written, I start by writing out the business rules and I make the order of the code follow the order of the business rules, more-or-less. I put ALL of the business rules into the code as comments. I also send the rules to the client/boss/myself/others.
Doing this just once a year, on each critical section of code actually saves me much more time than the initial investment, so everyone wins.
If your company make gas turbine engines, then you can't work for another company that makes gas turbine engines.
If you are a programmer, this is rarely a problem.
If you are a mechanical engineer who specializes in gas turbine engine design, this is a big problem.
Being a programmer, this has never been a problem, but I still will not work for a company who makes me sign such an agreement. Good programmers can find good jobs nearly anywhere.
I have worked in the power industry, telcoms, universities, banks, government, web hosting, and more, never the same thing twice. (It's more fun that way.)
Last time I had a hard drive failure, I bought 5 identical 80G hard drives.
I build one drive until I "get it right", then I place anoth drive in the
system as slave. Then I boot Knoppix 3.8 or DamnSmallLinux or something
similar from the CD drive (I found some Live Linuxes make this process take
much longer).
Then I issue the command
dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=512M count=160
I have 1G of ram in the machine so I am assured of getting full 512M reads,
then 512M writes, so the OS does not have to do extra buffering.
It takes almost exactly 1 hour and 8 minutes to totally mirror a drive. This copies the MBR, all partitons, even the blank, space byte-for-byte from one drive to another. It ignores files, folders, etc (so those long filename errors NEVER happen) it just copies RAW data.
I then take the second drive out of the system and place it on the shelf.
In the event of a failure (I am down to 4 working drives now.)
I take the good drive off of the shelf, make it/dev/hda and a blank drive and make it/dev/hdb
and clone it. I then take/dev/hdb and put it on the shelf. I take the failed (or failing) drive and make it/dev/hdb then boot up from/dev/hda and copy everything that I did since my last clone to the new drive (mostly email and some programs). After the new drive is happy and in place for a few days, and I am sure I got everything I needed off of the failing drive, I re-clone the good drive and put it on the shelf. So, far it has been the most hassle free disaster recovery plan I have ever used. You can get 5 identical 80G hard drives for less than $200 with a very short search.
Slashdot Mirror
I have written code that does the opposite.
I have shape generating program (wire frame sphere distortions) I developed. I wanted to add shading to the shapes. So I pick a point for the light source at random and color the pixels closer to the light a little brighter than those pixels farther away from the light. Really works well.
Once I got that working, I wanted to add self-cast shadows. You know, when the generated shape twists back on itself and should cast a shadow onto itself. Never got there, still sits in my code archives as just a "cool dealie".
Shouldn't be too hard to work my code backward and calculate (or guess) where lighting is coming from. I mean heck, I am one guy and this isn't so hard.
The grid has very low losses.
Even over long distances, the losses are only around 2-3%.
Given that 2-3% is actually a very large amount of energy, it still would not justify the energy (and dollar) losses of maintaining a super conducting grid.
Huge mass production of cheap, fairly efficient solar cells could might all of the worlds energy problems.
I was rear-ended during afternoon rush hour and cop (on his way home, on his own time) responded to the scene.
He didn't have to. We could have easily waited 4 hours for another cop to come along.
He was very nice and professional, calming the girl whose car was pushed into mine in a chain reaction.
I wrote a note to his superiors about how great he was.
They sent me back a thank-you which had also been copied to the superior's superior, the cop himself, and the cop's service record.
Always Always Always Always try to reward good behavior when you observe it.
The ideal CPU would be designed for Linux.
It would have several dozen really small CPUs that are Linux commands/daemons literally burned into the chip.
So, much of the operating system would be hardware-based (maybe EEPROM microcode) that does much of the "core guts" of the Linux kernel (or maybe GCC libraries?).
The rest of the chip could be two or four X86 type multi-purpose CPUs.
A Microsoft CPU chip could use the same idea, but who would want it? (Winmodems, etc already have)
Q: How do you make a cat sound like a dog?
A: Spray him with lighter fluid. One match and he goes WOOF.
Q: How do you make a dog sound like a cat?
A: Dip him in liquid nitrogen and cut him in a band-saw. He goes MMMMMEEEEOOOWWW.
(Funnier with good sound effects.)
I know this killed my karma, but I had to share these.
I have quit idiot jobs like this.
I am so glad that I do not work for you.
This level of interoperability has always existed.
National Crime Info Center
I think they even got stuff with interpol.
J Edgar Hoover started it.
You probably are not the person to make this decision.
Whenever management decides on software it is by reading one-sided literature distributed by the software vendors. Never a true story. Then it is cost driven. Never mind that the platform cannot possibly solve the business problem.
Tell the developer(s) your problem. They know what the application needs to do and which different solutions can get them there. If you hire good programmers, they will make good decisions, that is OUR expertise.
When management or marketing (or worst of all -- sales) get to contribute to decisions for software platforms for development, something is REALLY WRONG.
I tend to "Pink Floyd" in situations like this.
i.e. "Run Like Hell"
Aging and death and sex are all an early part of evolution.
Amoebas and single celled organisms just split. I a very real sense, the first amoeba is still alive today. If a single cell ever gets damaged, it might ask a neighboring cell for help. They could share some genetic data (or whatever else might be needed) and the good cell could help repair the broken one. This is really dangerous for the good cell as it might become damaged in the process.
Linear reproduction does not lend itself to the sharing of information.
So, in order to share information, and hence protect the species as a whole, this willingness to share information MUST BE FORCED.
If every organism was hardwired to die, they would definitely have incentive to share genetic information before their time was up. So in reality the advent of death caused the need for sex.
Without DEATH there would be no need for SEX.
This has always been one of my favorite evolutionary rants.
Ahh, pre-life.
Virii are not truly alive in some technical terms. They do not have mitochodria, they do not process energy, they really do not even reproduce. They trick otherwise healthy cells into doing all of this for them.
There are sulfur using lifeforms around volcanic vents on the ocean floor that do not resemble any other carbon based life forms.
It appears that the road to life was proceeded by another road of near life and weird life that evolved just like life does.
DO:
1. Show me the money/benefits/insurance/401k
2. Give me the "Say So" when it comes to my decisions. No questions asked.
3. Give me the tools/budget.
4. Give me the specs or give me time to get the specs
5. Give me the people I need
6. Let me design it, code it, test it, fix it, document it.
7. When I am done Go to step 1 with a new, different project.
DO NOT:
1. Make me attend meetings, I can do every decision by Email.
Email gives me a "paper trail" to show what decisions were really made, when and by who. If you can say it to my face you can type it into the damn computer.
2. Make me beg for resources. I know what I need. I will use open source whenever possible/practical. I will not waste ANY money, I want to take it home in my paycheck, not give it to some vendor.
3. Lock me into any software. This is my area of expertise. I do not care that you made a stupid contract with software vendor.
4. Keep moving the target. Lock down what we are trying to do in a month. Then we start. You keep changing the product during development, I am gone.
This list could go on forever, but you get the idea.
Smart people like freedom. They like responsibility. We respect good decision makers and hate wishy washy management.
When I got to my present job there were 5 computers in boxes, a couple of routers and hubs, an idea and me. Been going 2 years now and the work I started has blossomed into 12 computers working full time, doing automation work. The contract pays us for the work our programs do, not for writing the programs. SWEET.
Making more money every month.
Years ago, I did a questionnaire thingy for people entering a college football game. One of the questions was "income bracket". I found that this very closely corresponded to the quality of shoes the respondents were wearing.
Crappy shoes = Low pay. Nice quality shoes = Good Pay.
Not always true, but, yes, -- it was true MOST of the time. I guess chicks just pay better attention to these things.
It is said that Einstein had 7 identical suits and just picked the next one each day.
I have 30 identical pairs of black socks. All purchased on the same day from the same store. When I grab two socks out of the drawer they ALWAYS match. They will all be faded and lose their elasticity around the same time. They will all be brought to Goodwill at the same time, and I will buy 30 new pairs at that time. Enough on socks.
I have 15 pairs of dark pants. A few black, a few navy and mostly various shades of gray. All the pants can go with basically any of my shirts (mostly).
I have 20 long sleeve, button up shirts. Almost all solid colors. The only acceptably pattern is vertical pin stripes. Always wear a v-neck undershirt.
Two pair of simple, polished black shoes and a couple of black belts.
There you have it. You do not have to do wash for two weeks at a time. You never have to "match socks". You never have to match shirts to pants. You always look good and feel good without having to put forth mental effort.
Hey, programmers are elite. Those other "artists" dress in jeans one day and silk suits the next. I just wanna look good and get a little respect. Management is for people who do not know how to code anyway.
I do not want to get off on a rant here, but, -- Doctors PRACTICE medicine.
A great deal of what doctors do is the best guess we have today (Feb 2008). When dealing with critically ill people, doctors follow a protocol of tested (and untested) procedures that have been studied and hobbled together from the experience of other doctors. This might make it science, but it doesn't mean it is the best way to handle a certain condition or a certain patient. It is still a BEST GUESS. In 500 years, the best guesses doctors make now will be laughed at.
For example, my cholesterol is about 200. Ten years ago the limit was 230-250, five years ago the limit was 200, now doctors want our cholesterol to be less than 180, next 160? One of my doctors said once, 230 sounds like the correct number and that drug companies are pushing the number lower to SELL MORE DRUGS. No science here.
Another example. My friend's wife is a cigarette smoker. Very addicted. When she got pregnant she asked her doctors "Is the stress from quitting worse than the smoking itself?" She kept asking different doctors this question until one gave her the answer she wanted. (Her kid turned out fine BTW.)
I believe almost nothing the medical profession tells me. Everyone wants me to take a pill for something that can be solved with diet and exercise. YOU are the biggest champion of your good health. If something a doctor says sounds fishy, look it up, read the internet like crazy, then make your own opinion.
Doctors are like auto mechanics that are not allowed to open the hood.
My rant is done.
Try reading the hardest book I have ever picked up.
"The Art of Happiness"
Really, really hard for me to read. That is because I keep stopping and wrestling with the concepts, observations and ideas presented in the book.
It has definitely made me happier, more willing to stop and see the "big picture" (whatever that is).
The greatest impact this book has had on me has been to accept other people as viable human beings, with faults and problems, and to see we are all really just trying to be happy.
Oh, yeah, the placebos show that almost all of us have the power within ourselves to change the way we think, feel and respond.
I always thought the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath, was that a psychopath DOES NOT know the difference between right and wrong, and the sociopath DOES know the difference between right and wrong, but, just does not care about it.
OK, so how much is the FBI knowing your fingerprint, iris scan and DNA profile going to affect your privacy?
In what universe does knowledge of your biostatistical data impede on your freedom?
You DO NOT have the freedom to commit murder, arson or terrorism.
If you are not involved in something illegal, the FBI doesn't give a crap about you.
They aren't going to track your movement around the US with this info (that's what traffic cams are for). They aren't going to fingerprint that baggie you tossed that had your pot in it (it costs about $1000 to fully process a fingerprint).
So many have this idea that they are watching you. YOU AREN'T EVIL enough for the FBI to care!!!!
They are up to their elbows in REAL BAD GUYS and YOU DON'T MAKE THE CUT.
I imagine when the world is at peace and they run out of real bad guys, then you can be paranoid. But I do not see whirled peas (world peace) in my lifetime.
I have been so angry at jobs I have left that I have been tempted to do bad things to the network/data/servers/etc.
Whenever leaving such a job, I have always taken the high road. I did the worst thing possible, I left them without telling them the REAL reason for leaving. This way they can hire more sysadmins who will also leave. Those companies will never get their stuff together!
BRWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Now we can all be strapped to chairs and "vaccinated" both physically and mentally until all of our bad habits, bad thoughts and general evilness is gone. Just do not play Beethoven while undergoing treatment (because that would be immoral). It really is okay to take away free will.
HHHMMM, So -- they will probably invent a vaccine that eliminates ALL euphoria -- whether from drugs, food, or even a "natural high". This will prevent any of us from feeling better than the others. Think "Harrison Bergeron". We really all should feel and think exactly the same as everyone else.
Actually, I am waiting for the "permanent drug" - you take it once, the body NEVER eliminates it, and you feel the uplifting euphoric phase FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
I read this book years ago. It makes you think about features people come to expect in programs. The author is about "putting in ALL on the programmer". What I mean is, many of his ideas are great, but are very hard to implement.
Some example pointers: "Infinite undos - keep track of EVERYTHING done in the program, and let the go backward and forward through the changes", another: "Silently fail - when a user clicks on the wrong thing, DO NOT make a pop-up that says - 'You did something bad', just do nothing, the user doesn't need to be told he is stupid".
Actually the book is extremely short on actual implementation, but that part is up to you.
GOOD POST (I wish I had some mod points).
This is also true of general competence and incompetence...
People who are truly incompetent in their field have no clue of what real competence is (in that field). Those people tend to believe that they are the only competent people and that everyone else is out to get them.
Only those who are actually competent can see their own shortcomings and try to overcome them.
This is not my theory, someone more competent than me pointed it out to me, and I have held it as a truth ever since.
Once in a while I take a small change and tell the client/boss/myself that it is a really BIG change.
Then I go through a totally re-write the code from end-to-end. I look for unused sections, variables, etc. I re-order all the logic so that it is logical. Then I test for the necessary period of time.
Since most of the code is already written, I start by writing out the business rules and I make the order of the code follow the order of the business rules, more-or-less. I put ALL of the business rules into the code as comments. I also send the rules to the client/boss/myself/others.
Doing this just once a year, on each critical section of code actually saves me much more time than the initial investment, so everyone wins.
If your company make gas turbine engines, then you can't work for another company that makes gas turbine engines.
If you are a programmer, this is rarely a problem.
If you are a mechanical engineer who specializes in gas turbine engine design, this is a big problem.
Being a programmer, this has never been a problem, but I still will not work for a company who makes me sign such an agreement. Good programmers can find good jobs nearly anywhere.
I have worked in the power industry, telcoms, universities, banks, government, web hosting, and more, never the same thing twice. (It's more fun that way.)
Last time I had a hard drive failure, I bought 5 identical 80G hard drives.
/dev/hda and a blank drive and make it /dev/hdb
and clone it. /dev/hdb and put it on the shelf. /dev/hdb then boot up from /dev/hda and copy everything that I did since my last clone to the new drive (mostly email and some programs).
I build one drive until I "get it right", then I place anoth drive in the system as slave. Then I boot Knoppix 3.8 or DamnSmallLinux or something similar from the CD drive (I found some Live Linuxes make this process take much longer).
Then I issue the command
dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=512M count=160
I have 1G of ram in the machine so I am assured of getting full 512M reads, then 512M writes, so the OS does not have to do extra buffering.
It takes almost exactly 1 hour and 8 minutes to totally mirror a drive. This copies the MBR, all partitons, even the blank, space byte-for-byte from one drive to another. It ignores files, folders, etc (so those long filename errors NEVER happen) it just copies RAW data.
I then take the second drive out of the system and place it on the shelf.
In the event of a failure (I am down to 4 working drives now.)
I take the good drive off of the shelf, make it
I then take
I take the failed (or failing) drive and make it
After the new drive is happy and in place for a few days, and I am sure I got everything I needed off of the failing drive, I re-clone the good drive and put it on the shelf.
So, far it has been the most hassle free disaster recovery plan I have ever used.
You can get 5 identical 80G hard drives for less than $200 with a very short search.