2012-02-15 Backups -- the still unsolved problem. I've had a good discus- sion on the topic with Ju yesterday. We haven't found solutions, but came to these ideas: (1) Try to have few data. Or at least, try to separate valueable data from temporary files and convenience copies. (2) Hard disks appear to be the best storage media, even for off- line copies. Simply disconnect them and store them in the cel- lar. (3) The main problem is distributed access, i.e. multiple comput- ers and multiple locations. As the Internet is not omni-available yet (and especially not fast enough sometimes), one needs some kind of sync. That's hard to solve. (4) Although centralized systems are easier to manage, they are too dangerous for backups. You may have a master and multiple slaves. Losing small parts of your data in a master crash can be acceptable if the setup is much simpler than a fully decentral on. Backups are only costs, until the rare case of emergency. This is the reason why we often simply don't have them. Hence, what- ever you choose, you better have a bad backup than none! One related thought: The most appealing solution would be to have the three parts com- plete split and unrelated: (1) data (perhaps even split itself into personal and external), (2) the operating system and software, and (3) the hardware. Having them combined is not what we actually do want. Ju is working on this topic; Michi is working on this topic; krt has found the most simple solution; I'm still dreaming of a WORM device. :-) http://marmaro.de/lue/ markus schnalke