“This week, I will go out on a limb and make a gross
generalization. If you’re ready, here it is. An amazing number of
Linux users and admins out there have CD re-recordable drives and
no tape drive. You happily burn CDs to make collections of your
favourite tunes, but have you thought about using it to create
backups of your data?“
“A quick step back. Here’s the scoop. There are ways to do
backups right, but I want to start from worst-case scenario to best
case. Meaning, soon we will be talking about tape drives. Some
people out there might argue that “tape drives” sounds like an
archaic way to deal with data storage. I’ll answer that challenge
next week. For now, I’m going to pretend you have a CD-recordable
unit on your system, and show you how to use it for backups.”
“The question of whether a CD-RW is a good backup choice is
sometimes settled in this way. You can afford either a tape drive
(sometimes more expensive than the CD-RW) or the tape. When our
machines get used for both business and pleasure, as is often the
case with home offices, we tend to lean in the direction of “I want
both.”