[X4U] Time Machine

[Robert Ameeti]

At 5:29 PM -0800, 11/7/07, Jim Robertson wrote:

>On 11/7/07 3:21 PM, "Robert Ameeti" <Robert at Ameeti.net> wrote:
>
>>  Time Machine has to get a good read before it can do a write.
>
>I'm curious. The original poster didn't know his internal drive was bad,
>which means it apparently wasn't having frequent problems in ordinary use.

Oftentimes a user will have a bad disk but not know it until they 
choose to back it up. Backing up a drive will touch every file on the 
drive and the typical user has tons of files that they never touch or 
haven't touched in years.

>If there were FREQUENT problems, wouldn't they be apparent to a 
>well-designed backup utility; i.e., shouldn't it verify its 
>reads/writes as it does its job?

We really do not have enough information to come to any real 
conclusions. We don't know if Time Machine ever was able to do a 
complete back up. Until it completes at least one cycle, I wouldn't 
expect it to be able to give back any files.

The most often overlooked weakness of any back up system is backing 
up but then not attempting to restore. Oftentimes an admin will have 
lots of backups but he has never restored and when the need arises, 
he finds that none of them work. In this case, I'm thinking that the 
first part was not ever completed.
-- 

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Robert Ameeti

Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice.
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