[X4U] Back up ideas/suggestions needed....

[Ed Gould]

Group:

I am going over my backup plan and have basically decided that my  
current backup system is no longer adequate and need some insight for  
a new backup system.

Currently I have a G5 with 4GB of RAM and 300GB of HD (internal) space 
(10.4 with no plans to go to 10.5 ever) and an external HD with about  
400 GB (370 used) of two external drives.

I use one of the external drives to back up my system to and have 3  
copies of backup for my system.

When I back up I copy *ALL* of my data Internal to my external and as  
I create the new copy I delete the 3rd copy.

Essentially every saturday morning  I delete the 3rd copy (takes  
about 2 hours) and then shut my 7X24 connection down and stop all  
applications like email and web and my usenet reader. I then use  
"personal backup" to backup the HD of my G5.  This takes  
approximately 4-5 hours.

To summarize: I need  a way in case of disaster to recover my system  
in a reasonably timely fashion (hopefully in less than 24 hours). My  
plan to hand carry my backup drive as I leave my place is a big hole  
in my system. I have severe memory issues due to a stroke and I am  
afraid I will forget to unhook my drive and carry it out with me in  
an emergency.

I really don't have any good way to send to an offsite place my  
backup drive. I need a reasonably inexpensive solution. I thought  
about asking a neighbor to "care" for my drive but this is not doable  
(I won't go into reasons), I have friends but don't necessarily see  
them once a week.

I have thought about buying remote site backup space but my friend  
says that COMCAST throttles upload speed to approx 100Mb sec making  
backup time extremely poor.

Does anyone have some ideas for any options I might have?

Ed

ps: I have a friend in need of something similar and he is thinking  
of getting a terabyte drive or blue-ray. I sort of like the idea of  
blue-ray  but I understand the cost of DVD's are still too high for  
my taste and won't consider it until at least they come down in price  
to $4-$5 (US) a piece. I understand they are in the (US) $20 range  
now. Plus I have experiences with DVD's  in the past that it took  
about 20 hours to back up my system to and I had to sit there and  
flip over the DVDs as they became full.