Data Backup, Disaster Recovery and Howie

It looks like it could carry whiskey and it can save my data? Sign me up.

The new 250 GB drive from Iomega is by far the sexiest way to backup all those important files. It is the kind of external hard drive you wouldn’t mind being seen in public with. Imagine being prepared for a data disaster without instantly earning the geek moniker. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it.

Thanks to Josh Taylor for pointing out the newest addition to Howie’s “I Want That” list.

That’s right. It finally happened. The hard drive on my hard working little laptop finally succumbed to the strain of working constantly beyond its limits. Fortunately, I have been backing up my data, but it will still be a pain to get the new system (which I’m picking up today) up and running how I like it.

Anyway, just a quick reminder that no one is immune to drive failures. Back up  your data.

In yet another illustration of the dangers of transporting tapes off-site, over 2 million medical records (including Social Security numbers) were stolen from the University of Miami. The theft appears to be random as the tapes were stolen from a van transporting them to an off-site location and the data (encrypted and compressed) does not appear to be vulnerable. Still, this sort of theft is a concern to anyone transporting data to an off-site location.

The University of Miami has temporarily suspended their disaster recovery efforts to investigate other off-site options, but with the Act of God frequency pretty high down there, they will be wanting a solution soon. It will be intersting to see which way they head.

Things have been a bit crazy over here at Universe Point as we prepare to turn some heads at Interop in Las Vegas. If you’re out there for the show, come and find us.

Due to this preoccupation I am going to cheat a little and just point you to an article I read this morning. It reminded me that we producers of backup software are not “making software”, we are “protecting data”.

I also really liked this quote . . .

“We need, I think, profoundly new data moving software to transfer data from servers’ storage arrays to target data protection devices and profoundly new software to provide a reporting and management environment on that protected data.”

But, let me get back to work and you can read about how backup software is broken yourself.

Those of you looking to get into the data center business are in luck if you happen to own a bit of land 50-100 miles outside of Washington DC. Computer World reports a trend toward data center outsourcing for the federal government with an eye on facilities outside the instant-death-and-destruction radius of a nuclear weapon. So, if you have the land start building. If not, there is still a lesson here I think.

Now, your business might not be particularly concerned about the destruction range of a nuke, at least not in terms of business continuity, but there is probably still a “blast zone” outside of which it would be wise to store some data. For instance, if your business is located in Tornado Alley, you might want to store some data in a place that doesn’t have a natural disaster in its name (Tranquil Springs, or Safe Town for instance). You really don’t want to have to explain the embarrassing phenomenon of having all your data locations wiped out by one catastrophe. That would be like locking all your spare keys in one car. Shameful.

That said, you should still have some versions of your data on-site and/or nearby in case you need a non-disaster related recovery. After all, most data restores are not prompted by disaster.

Well, it has been busy lately and that has certainly kept my blog posting to a minimum. I would be very concerned about that if I had a bunch of anxious readers. Fortunately (or unfortunately), that is not currently an issue.

Anyway, this one is a little something for all the tree-huggers out there. I can call them that because I have been known to cuddle with a tree or two myself. I particularly enjoy birch hugging as the bark is pleasantly smooth . . . but I digress.

Data backup is, by its nature, not a very “green” undertaking. Computers and data storage require a great deal of energy to run, and while large data centers have some alternative energy options, it is difficult for the average user to make their backup environmentally responsible. However, there are a few things you can do to decrease the carbon footprint of your backup, and one of these involves taking advantage of power options.

If you have a business and are backing up a substantial amount of data, you are probably scheduling that backup to run overnight. This way the backup processing doesn’t interfere with any day to day functions. In order to run this overnight backup, your computer has to remain on throughout the night. Even if the backup only takes an hour or two, your computer will sit there sucking electricity until you return.  Then, more work, another overnight backup and more work again. The computer is always on except for a brief restart when Windows sends one of its annoying updates.

This is where power options come in handy. If your backup software provides power options, you can set your computer to “Shut Down”, “Sleep” or “Hibernate” automatically after your backup completes. That way, instead of running all night and steadily sipping at our dwindling oil reserves, your computer will slip into pleasant and ecologically beneficially dreams. It might also save you a few pennies on your electric bill.

As a side note, I’m not sure exactly what the difference between “Sleep” and “Hibernate” is, but I’d stick with “Sleep” on the off chance “Hibernate” will make you wait until spring to boot up.

For talking about:
Does everyone out there have power options on their backup software? Do you use them? Does someone want to tell me the difference between “Sleep” and “Hibernate” before I am forced to actually look it up?

While skimming through Wikipedia looking for a bit more info on Conway polyhedron notation (not as interesting as it sounds), I came across an article on molecular memory. Apparently nanotech, the future savior of humanity (according to an influential member of the nanotech community), is taking a break from making my pants stain-proof to bring us a super-speedy new type of memory. It probably goes without saying since we are talking nanotech, but this is also, potentially, a pretty compact memory option.

Now my nano-physics education stopped right after second grade, so I don’t really understand a great deal about the details of this idea. Apparently, the goal is to store bits of data on molecules only a few nanometers wide. Eventually, the hope is to have a byte per molecule, but for now it is more likely that a group of molecules would contain each byte. There were also some things about photochromism and capacitance which make for an interesting read, but are a dull in the retelling (especially from a blogger who’s topic already ranks pretty high on the bored o’ meter). Suffice it to say, should they pull this off we would be looking at memory that makes flash drives look like my 80 year old grandmother in an Olympic sprint event.

Most of the research going into this is attempting to create a replacement for RAM. This, of course, isn’t exactly our area of interest in the backup world. We tend to be more concerned with non-volatile memory (memory that doesn’t forget when turned off). But, don’t worry. A quick Google search for ” non-volatile molecular memories” brings up quite a few results, some with promising names like Harvard in their URLs.

This may not be the very next step in data storage, but its probably not that far off. With the demands for space growing as rapidly as they are and the concerns of storage capacity, speed and environmental impact growing with them, we should expect plenty of innovative thought in the area.  I, for one, will be waiting anxiously to ask a molecule for my missing files.

Alright, I admit it. This blog’s fascination with disaster is beginning to seem a bit obsessive. I apologize, but there is just so much of it. Its hard to resist.

Today’s story, from the AP,  is the tale of Charter Communication and the accidental erasure of the contents of 14,000 email accounts. That’s right . . . 14,000 accounts. The event, which was apparently a simple mistake in routine maintenance, erased every email, every attachment . . . everything. In 14,000 accounts.

Ouch.

It gets worse. According to a spokeswoman for the company, there is no way to retrieve any of the information that was inadvertently deleted. This enormous communication company, with accounts across the country, does not have a backup policy to protect its users from itself.

The company claims it is taking steps to assure that this never happens again. I would suggest a less optimistic approach wherein they take steps to make sure that when it does happen again (which it will in some form) they can retrieve the lost data.

I feel badly for those who lost important data in this event.  No doubt countless, irreplaceable communications boiled into the ether. I urge everyone using a free email account to take a lesson from this and find a way to save and archive those emails. This sort of accident occurs regularly. While the scale of this particular incident makes it a rarity, the events themselves are not uncommon.

I will do a little research on the topic, so look for some tips on how to backup your free email account in the near future.

I will tread somewhat lightly on this disaster to avoid a political debate in which this particular blog has no interest. If you want political debates you’ll have to meet me for a beer. That said, I have seen the White House in the news attached to backup so often that I couldn’t continue to completely ignore it.

Basically, there are a large number of emails missing from the backup records that the White House keeps, and the explanation for the missing tapes has been somewhat suspect. Robert K. Blechman gives us a good rundown of the questionable claims in his blog post, so I won’t go into it any further than I have. Give it a read and draw your own conclusions.

That said, this story is a good reminder of the importance of carefully documented backup procedures. Most of the White House’s issue seems to be based on confusion, real or feigned, over the agreed upon backup methodology. It is vital for companies, and government organizations, to have a backup plan that is clear and easily followed.

The issue of tapes also comes into play in this story, but that is something we will get into later. For now, lets try to imagine an appropriate backup plan for White House email records and a way in which that plan could be presented without leaving such room for error.

Ask the Admin, a newly discovered (and newly subscribed to) blog, presented us with a pleasantly absurd new backup idea . . . paper. Yes, that’s right, cellulose pulp, the descendant of papyrus. Apparently, a new piece of software called PaperBack (obviously) will allow you to back up your data to that most basic of mediums.

I know, some of you are saying you already have a device for this purpose. You call it a printer. There is even a specialized storage unit for all that backup material, referred to, I believe, as a file cabinet. But wait. This is different.

PaperBack, instead of rolling out sheet after sheet of tedious words and spreadsheets, will print a bitmap image of your data that can be restored using an ordinary scanner. Sure, its ridiculous, but still, you have to admit, it is also just a little bit cool.

Would I use it as part of a backup strategy? No. Would I recommend you use it? Not unless I had something against you. But, I will try it out because it sounds entertaining. Just don’t tell my green friends about it . . . there is definitely a danger to trees in this backup solution. Though, it may be some consultation if I recycled my unneeded backups into delicate origami swans.