Friday, February 06, 2009
Crash landing
I suspect I was long overdue for a system crash. In the more than 27 years that I have been a PC user, I have never had a major system crash - until yesterday at noon.I dutifully did weekly back-ups and daily protection for critical files. For two years now, I have used a continuous on-line back-up service called Carbonite and it was a lifesaver.
As a result of its easy on-line access, I was back on the air in less than 20 minutes - pressing my laptop into service. It will likely take the weekend to download most of my files. There are 40GB in the back-up. I suspect that I will have lost a few pieces that are in progress and had not yet been backed up.
If I don't reply to your recent email, please write me again - I didn't mean to ignore you.
Let me recommend to all of you that you keep your back-ups current and brush your teeth after every meal.
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Carbonite, backup, recovery, SME
Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 2/06/2009 06:08:00 AM 
Comments:
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Why do you use on-line service instead of just copy files to external drive ?
Posted by 
: 9:58 AM, February 06, 2009
: 9:58 AM, February 06, 2009
External drive, if done continuously, is only a partial level of protection. It doesn't help with a loss of premises (eg. fire, water, etc.).
Posted by 
Mark Goldberg : 10:05 AM, February 06, 2009
Mark Goldberg : 10:05 AM, February 06, 2009
An external drive plus periodic DVD archival saved at an off-premise location (e.g., safety deposit box) would suffice for most. If a fire claims your premise, you'll likely have bigger fish to fry than worrying about not having a back-up from the last week.
Either way, a Google GDrive may soon make backups painless and free (providing you don't mind giving up some privacy or encrypting everything first).
Either way, a Google GDrive may soon make backups painless and free (providing you don't mind giving up some privacy or encrypting everything first).
Posted by : 5:19 PM, February 06, 2009
: 5:19 PM, February 06, 2009
Now, Mark, can you tell us that you experienced no throttling in your restore operation?
Posted by : 9:57 PM, February 06, 2009
: 9:57 PM, February 06, 2009
None that I can see. My ISP only throttles p2p - meaning peer-to-peer.
As most of you would understand, back-up and recovery file transfer makes no sense to use common peer-to-peer software, because there is only one source and one destination, let's call it point-to-point.
I am only halfway through the restoration process; total appears to be 55,000 files with a total of 42GB. At 2Mbps steady, that works out to around 50 hours by my calculation. And it can't be steady, because the computer needs to write files, the server needs to manage the data, etc. [I pulled the essential stuff first so that I could start working right away.]
So far, I see no evidence of slowing or any kind of shaping; I suspect I may overshoot my monthly cap and be on the hook for some over-use charges.
I can live with that.
As most of you would understand, back-up and recovery file transfer makes no sense to use common peer-to-peer software, because there is only one source and one destination, let's call it point-to-point.
I am only halfway through the restoration process; total appears to be 55,000 files with a total of 42GB. At 2Mbps steady, that works out to around 50 hours by my calculation. And it can't be steady, because the computer needs to write files, the server needs to manage the data, etc. [I pulled the essential stuff first so that I could start working right away.]
So far, I see no evidence of slowing or any kind of shaping; I suspect I may overshoot my monthly cap and be on the hook for some over-use charges.
I can live with that.
Posted by Mark Goldberg : 10:37 PM, February 06, 2009
Mark Goldberg : 10:37 PM, February 06, 2009
2Mbps i seriously slow, even if your ISP actually delivers at that rate consistently, which I doubt.
I wouldn't be too proud of Canadian ISP technology if that is that best you can get without going to T3 or commercial fibre links.
I assume you can afford the more high end so-called "Extreme" service, which should deliver much more.
Bell and Rogers service at the max end even for point to point are suffering because of throttling. That's my observation, FWIW.
Performance is declining and prices are rising. Probably along with margins.
But that's the beauty of a Canadian classic duopoly, isn't it?
Do you have data otherwise?
I wouldn't be too proud of Canadian ISP technology if that is that best you can get without going to T3 or commercial fibre links.
I assume you can afford the more high end so-called "Extreme" service, which should deliver much more.
Bell and Rogers service at the max end even for point to point are suffering because of throttling. That's my observation, FWIW.
Performance is declining and prices are rising. Probably along with margins.
But that's the beauty of a Canadian classic duopoly, isn't it?
Do you have data otherwise?
Posted by : 8:09 PM, February 08, 2009
: 8:09 PM, February 08, 2009
Sorry Anon [8:09pm] - I don't understand your point. There is no throttling of point to point traffic. I completed the downloading in less than 50 hours, even with the overheads associated with file management. I think that was impressive, especially considering that I was working on-line as well and there were others on the home network at the same time.
Posted by Mark Goldberg : 11:18 PM, February 08, 2009
Mark Goldberg : 11:18 PM, February 08, 2009
2Mbps is plain lame. OFCOM did a big study and, as reported recently by BBC:
"The average speed of a broadband connection in the UK is 3.6Mbps (megabits per second) according to new research from regulator Ofcom.
The speed test is described by Ofcom as "one of the most sophisticated and thorough" ever done.
The average speed is still "significantly" below that which many broadband packages promise, Ofcom said."
See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7817748.stm
So Canadian should be satisfied with half the bandwidth speed of the UK - when we were supposedly pioneers of internet infrastructure?
"The average speed of a broadband connection in the UK is 3.6Mbps (megabits per second) according to new research from regulator Ofcom.
The speed test is described by Ofcom as "one of the most sophisticated and thorough" ever done.
The average speed is still "significantly" below that which many broadband packages promise, Ofcom said."
See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7817748.stm
So Canadian should be satisfied with half the bandwidth speed of the UK - when we were supposedly pioneers of internet infrastructure?
Posted by : 8:25 PM, February 09, 2009
: 8:25 PM, February 09, 2009
Dear Anon[8:25pm]. I think you have a serious misunderstanding clouding your hostility.
To start with, My 2Mbps estimate was based on the initial observed yield of files being transferred. That was for the one application - and at no time did I suggest that my ISP had anything to do with this rate, other than the speed confirming that no throttling is going on.
The yield that I observed from Carbonite was dependent on the speed of their servers, their software on the client (my new PC) and on their hosts, and their connectivity to the internet cloud as well as contention within the cloud.
I also said pretty clearly that I had other applications running on my machine as well as other computers that share the internet connection.
Further - you are confusing UK internet bandwidth tests with delivery of sustained [50 hours straight] capacity.
I don't get how you went from this to complain that Canada's bandwidth speeds are half the UK. Based on what set of facts?
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To start with, My 2Mbps estimate was based on the initial observed yield of files being transferred. That was for the one application - and at no time did I suggest that my ISP had anything to do with this rate, other than the speed confirming that no throttling is going on.
The yield that I observed from Carbonite was dependent on the speed of their servers, their software on the client (my new PC) and on their hosts, and their connectivity to the internet cloud as well as contention within the cloud.
I also said pretty clearly that I had other applications running on my machine as well as other computers that share the internet connection.
Further - you are confusing UK internet bandwidth tests with delivery of sustained [50 hours straight] capacity.
I don't get how you went from this to complain that Canada's bandwidth speeds are half the UK. Based on what set of facts?
Posted by Mark Goldberg : 8:44 PM, February 09, 2009
Mark Goldberg : 8:44 PM, February 09, 2009 << Home
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