[Box Backup] Backup with far more space used than source

[Martin Ebourne]

On Fri, 2005-09-02 at 19:27 +0100, Mr R G Shepherd wrote:
> I know this is completely OT but is boxbackup the best choice of backup solution 
> for this type of client? I see the point of box backup for many potential 
> circumstances but I fail to see what this setup requires from box backup.
>
> Would a weekly rsync not be more appropriate unless you really need to encrypt 
> your mp3s of course...

I can't speak for Kristopher, but I do pretty much exactly the same
thing myself. I use box backup to backup audio files from one harddisk
to another on the same machine. Why?

1. I'm using box anyway for other cross machine and remote backups, so
it's all set up.

2. Box is easy to use with the command line client.

3. It stores old versions and deleted files, which rsync won't handle so
well.

4. Using patches it also supports ACLs (which I use to control access on
my music).

I'd love to back the whole lot up to my offsite location, but
unfortunately it would take months even for the initial upload at
current ADSL upload rates.

More to the point, I've not seen any reason not to use box backup -
apart from the unnecessary SSL and encryption, which really don't do any
harm.

> I would have thought an archive procedure onto removeable media would be a 
> better choice. But then I guess some youngsters don't have the benefit of an 
> acetate/vinyl hard copy of their entertainment media... re reading your post I 
> see you have taken your audio off CD's - why increase the media requirements for 
> these?

In my case it took me months to rip all my CDs to start with and I don't
intend to do them ever again, hence they need to be backed up. I dare
say that Kristopher has the same feeling.

Kristopher, anyway the good news is that it works fine for me, and
doesn't take excessive disk space so it's perfectly fixable once the
problem has been discovered. I have a similar amount of music backed up
in this way.

You haven't renamed the backup location or similar have you? Maybe that
would cause stuff to be uploaded twice?

Cheers,

Martin.