how would you backup 1TB of data to dvds?

[Jacques B.]

2008/2/10 Dave M <DaveM at mich.com>:
> At 12:46 PM 2/9/2008 , Valent wrote:
> >How would you backup 1TB of data in a server with 4x 250GB drives all
> >mounted as separate mount points to a set of dvds using tools
> >available in fedora, centos or rhel?
>
> It is amazing how much BS this thread spawned without providing an answer
> to your question. I am in a similar situation and here is how I do it.
>
> I use dar to make archive slices of my data and then use the attached
> script to burn and verify each slice to a DVD. The script also creates a
> catalog file (that you can reference for future backups/restores), a parity
> file for each slice and verifies the burn. I use cron to run this on a
> daily basis and e-mail myself when it fails (so I can change the DVD and
> the reference point to use the latest dar catalog file). This works well as
> long as your daily backups will fit on one DVD or less.
<snip>

You criticized others for their solutions, yet yours also does not
address his needs.  You said "This works well as long as your daily
backups will fit on one DVD or less."  At first he was talking 1 TB,
so definitely not 1 DVD.  He then dropped to 50 GB, still a far, far
cry from one DVD (unless blue ray), and said it would be monthly.  He
later clarified it was for his home server, and "I don't need
incremental (I guess that is harder to do on multiple dvd mediums),
just a full backup to dvds. I have personal images and video files I
need to backup.".  After all this you fault those who suggested a more
practical solution (can't think of any situation where backing up 50
gigs to DVD would be the most practical solution) and turn around and
suggest one that by your own admission is only practical if backing up
one DVD per instance (week, month, whatever) when clearly the OP's
requirements far exceed that.

People provided valid advice based on their knowledge/experience.  A
lot of the advice attempted to sway the OP to consider a more
practical solution given the facts he presented to the list.  Some
provided advice specific to an optical media solution.  The OP was
free to ignore or consider any or none of it.  As pointed out by
someone else.  If you post something to a list as large and diverse as
this, expect some to provide alternative solutions different than what
you were planning to implement.  I see nothing wrong with that.  The
OP was quite capable of responding with more info or re-affirming that
despite the apparent impracticality noted by some to his choice for
backup solution, it was what he wanted to implement for reasons that
need only be known to him and therefore other advice although all
valid will not answer his question.  He didn't need a few other list
members to jump in and assert on his behalf that we were not answering
his question.  That's when things went off the rails.  Up until that
point there was dialog between the OP and those suggesting solutions.

If you want a very specific answer to a question, then you need to be
very specific in formulating your question.  Otherwise expect and
learn to live with the fact that you will get diversity in the advice
from others on these lists.

Jacques B.