Backup
Today’s hard disks are very reliable. A service life of 5 years
is a reasonably expectation.
However you might have had bad luck, it could crash, be stolen, dropped,
etc.
There could come a day you say “I really should have made a backup”.
What to backup
You don't need to backup the system software. You do have it on
the recovery disk or get it via Internet.
So you need to backup your own data only.
The HF backup makes a backup of
/data/db
/data/cddb2
/audio/music
/audio/record
Today all the information about the songs is stored in the data (tags).
In principle a backup of the songs in the music folder (the data) should
be sufficient as the tags will supply all relevant meta data.
This will at least preserve you music. Things like play lists will be lost
in case of a hard disk failure.
How to backup
You cab make a copy of your data by using a plain copy.
This might take considerable time.
Once you have a backup it is more efficient to use a tool which copies
only new and changed files.
In the Linux environment, Rsync is
a very good tool. Before you embark on a Linux job, see below as some forum
members has done all the work for you.
In the Windows environment DirSync does
the job.
Duration
Halfway loading my CDs I decided to make a backup.
I use the explorer to drag all files from the music-folder (why is it not
visible standard?) to my NAS. I did so late at night. In the morning
the copy was still running. When I got back from work, it was still running.
So I started to think (oh dear).
The Wlan has a maximum throughput of 52Mbps
I use about 25% of its capacity
So I transfer approximately 13MBps
Now there is some overhead, let’s assume 10%
Now MBps=bits per second and a byte=8 bits so transmission is 1 Mb(yte) per
second.
As I had 200 GB on the HF the backup takes about 40 hours.
Now this was done having my laptop and my NAS connected wireless.
The HF was connected by cable.
After connecting the HF also wireless the speed (if any) is reduced by
half so 0.5 Mb per second.
So if you are doing a backup or a restore or be very patient or go for
a all wired setup.
Expect an all wired setup to be approximately 5 times faster than a all
wireless setup.
Backup media
The Hermstedt way.
Hermstedt offers a USB disk for backup purposes.
-Hifidelio BackUp Harddisk 160GB- |
|
Prijs: €299.00 |
A non to cheap brand like Freecom offers:
Fhd-3
160gb U&f (22975)
Externe 3.5" USB-2 hard drive Capaciteit: 160GB- Intelligente
design hard drive- Synchronisatie knop/functie- Aluminium behuizing-
Mét voet-standaard- 3.5" Hard disk (7.200rpm)- 160GB t/m
500GB- USB 2.0 & FireWire kabel- Voor Win & Mac- Inclusief software
Suite- Onbeperkt helpdesk support
€ 171.06 (incl. BTW)
Even if you are not able to read Dutch you might be able to spot a difference between
299 and 171 Euro.
So the Hermstedt way is not my way. Beside I have a 400 GB hard disk in
the HF and Hermstedt doesn't offer a backup in this size.
USB
A very refined tool to backup to external USB drives has been developed
by Cenic
Features:
- The saved titles are written as single files to disk.
- Incremental backups save only changes and improve the time needed for a backup.
- The program can be operated from the front panel controls.
- Messages on screen are available in german and english depending on the selected unit locale.
- An indicator in the display shows the progress of the current operation.
- Details are written to a log file into the import folder.
- No changes of the installed software on the Hifidelio are necessary.
See http://disksync.kill-9.net/
Network
If your HF is networked you might use a NAS (network attached storage) or on another PC as a backup medium.
Using Windows
You can use a PC to backup the HF.
Now the music is stored on the HF in a folder not visible over the network.
So you must gain access to it.
See Network access to the music folder for
more information.
Using DirSync might speedup
matters as only new and changed files are copied to the backup medium.
If you want to make a backup of the libraries, you have to copy them first
to the import folder. A more elegant solution is to use a symbolic
link.
Using Rsync
It is possible to use the HF to make a backup straight to a NAS. This
is a faster method than using your PC as a kind of intermediary.
This method is described here but
I’m afraid it is a bit technical.