From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: erik quanstrom <quanstro@labs.coraid.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:59:00 -0400
To: 9fans@9fans.net
Message-ID: <9f9c7658554a9f3fcb334aa6dbeb05ae@coraid.com>
In-Reply-To: <3f8aecd8ac9fdcd39dc36b5e89882c7d@orthanc.ca>
References: <3f8aecd8ac9fdcd39dc36b5e89882c7d@orthanc.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Re: [9fans] OT: how do 9fans backup their Mac(book)?
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 2d8e4826-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

On Fri Sep 30 13:51:19 EDT 2011, lyndon@orthanc.ca wrote:
> > When non-plan9 people ask me this question I tell them to get an external
> > disk and use Time Machine.
>
> I would tell it to Plan9 folks as well.  There is no way to
> recover from a catestrophic disk failure on a Mac using venti.
>
> Two days ago I spent $137 on a 1TB external USB disk.  I now have an
> encrypted backup of my laptop from which I can recover my complete
> environment on new hardware.  If your scheme can't do that, it's not a
> backup.
>
> I.e. don't confuse 'backup' with 'archive'.  If you need a backup
> in the true sense of the word, your only option is Time Machine.

i have a hard time believing that this couldn't work.

backup:
1.  power down mac.  remove hard drive.
2.  stuff drive as one gigantic file into venti.

restore:
1.  copy your backup onto drive
2.  install hard drive.  power up mac.

i'll admit it's not convienent, but it is a workable alternative.
and it leads to the fact that any storage that can snapshot itself
can give you backups.  putting the snapshot into venti is an exercize
for the reader, as is determining if using venti like that is a good idea
or not.

- erik