[Tfug] backup drive

[arizray at comcast.net]

Wow, sounds like a great idea. Can do what you suggested. Once it is set up, Suse is gone from boot how should I treat the now backup drive (IDE) BTW. Should I reformat it with specific partitions? Since it has a swap partition I assume I don't need it since it will just be storage. etc.
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Jim March" <1.jim.march at gmail.com>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:03 PM,  <arizray at comcast.net> wrote:
> > I am using Ubuntu 8.10 on a P4 machine, 2-80gb hdd, 1.5gb mem. I wish to take 
> my second drive that is dual booting Suse 10 and convert it to a storage drive 
> that would house a copy of HDA's home directory, photo's etc.
> >
> > Where can I get some guidance? Could I for example just change my boot grub 
> file to eliminate the dual boot and change the partitions on HDB to suit my 
> needs for storage?
> >
> > I was thinking I could use snapshot to do the backup.
> 
> You know what I'd seriously consider?
> 
> $25 or less at SWS gets you this neat kit that turns any drive (laptop
> IDE, desktop IDE or SATA) into an external USB drive (no chassis, just
> adapter gear).  It also includes a "power brick" for powering the
> drive up with either a 4pin standard desktop internal power plug or
> use an adapter to a SATA-type power plug (included).
> 
> What you do is, you leave the drive physically in the desktop for
> cooling, but you disconnect it from the motherboard IDE or SATA.  You
> plug the USB adapter in, and run that back through a slot plane into a
> motherboard USB port or any available internal USB port if one exists
> in there.  You also connect the drive to the new "power brick"
> connection rather than the desktop's internal power plug.
> 
> WHY?
> 
> Well first, Ubuntu treats USB drives totally differently than it does
> IDE/SATA drives...so it's going to see a different critter and mount
> it under /media like it's a flash drive.  Just edit grub ("sudo gedit
> boot/grub/menu.lst") to get rid of the Suse references.
> 
> Second, if the desktop power supply goes "poof", it won't take out the
> backup hard drive because it's now on a separate power supply.  This
> can SAVE YOUR BUTT!
> 
> Third, if this computer really blows up, you can take the backup drive
> with it's USB adapter and separate power and plug them into literally
> anything else - laptop, desktop, whatever.  I use IDE drives with this
> type of adapter to back up my laptop.
> 
> There'll be a minor performance penalty depending on the type of
> drive.  If the drive is a SATA-300 then running it through the adapter
> (SATA-150 support) will slow it down a bit but...for backup purposes,
> not that bad and you still get the reliability boost.  In IDE the
> speed penalty will be minor at worst.
> 
> Final bonus: say you get ahold of another drive and you want to suck
> the data off it or re-format it.  You can unmount your usual backup
> drive, unplug it's power, connect up that power and USB adapter to the
> new drive, plug in the USB and mount it ALL without taking the system
> down.  I often save people's data when their computer blows up by
> using this adapter hardware to connect to their naked drive and back
> it up to something else.  You would end up with that same hardware
> around "just in case you need it" for other purposes.
> 
> What else...if the USB adapter blows up, it likely still won't damage
> the disk or it's data.  I see drives survive the deaths of their
> external chassis circuitry all the time, and this is basically the
> same gear but without the chassis.
> 
> NOTE: get the adapter set where the power cord is totally separate
> from the USB adapter.  The type where it's all cross-wired in the
> middle with a power switch is a pain in the butt.
> 
> Jim
> 
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