Hi Anthony,

On 5/4/2016 9:14 PM, HerHusband wrote:
It actually costs *more* for us to pay electronically with some of our
bills. E.g., city water/sewer charges an extra fee for that "service".

I have a couple of annual bills that charge a small fee like that (1
dollar I think). The alternative is to write a check, put it in an
envelope, stick a stamp on, and drive to the post office to mail it. All
of those add up to a lot more than the dollar service fee. Even if it's
cheaper to write the check, the convenience is worth it to me. With a few
clicks I can pay and be done with it.

To each his own. SWMBO had something tied to one of the checking accounts.
Then, ended up with a hassle when she closed that account; have to notify
the vendor of new account, etc. Easier just to decide how you're going
to pay *when* you go to pay, IMO.

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to paying bills on time.

I'm the same way, which is one of the reasons I setup auto pay for every
bill I could. Paychecks get deposited and bills get paid even if I'm
sick, on vacation, or otherwise unable to pay them on time.

SWMBO likes to drag things out to the last possible minute -- she'll
write out a check, put it in a stamped envelope and slap a Post-It
on top telling her which day to mail it.

I, OTOH, open mail and pay immediately -- so I don't have to remember
to pay something.

But, we're real anal about these sorts of things. Never late fees, etc.
E.g., I don't think I've ever been late returning a book to the library!

The only catch is that you have to have the money in the bank account,
but we budget the money before we even get the bills, so it's always
there.

Flash drives that see repeated use tend to fail, IME.
OTOH, I'm pretty confident copying last year's tax return onto the
"Finances" thumb drive that we keep in the bug-out-bag.

Yep, writing is harder on flash drives than reading, but you're still
relying on an electrical charge that fades over time.

Yup. And, as geometries shrink and folks use MLC (esp for consumer kit),
that "charge" is on the order of 100 electrons! (amazing!)

The odds are good
that your data will still be readable, but there's always a chance it
won't be. What if you lose the flash drive, or it gets damaged
physically?

Same thing with any medium.

I don't like flash drives because they hide information regarding their
operating state. You have to *infer* that the drive is failing based on
how long it takes to write to it *as* it nears capacity (most USB
sticks have no overprovisioning). So, when you can *sense* there's
a problem, it's already THERE! (you get no advanced warning)

I had one drive that spontaneously decided to become "read only".
It gave me reliable access to my data -- but no way to erase or
overwrite any of it!

I just tossed a (practically new!) 32G drive presently that only writes
at 1MB/s. Yeah, they're inexpensive but what value the DATA they hold?

I've had great luck with optical media (CD/DVD) lasting 5 or more
years.

Optical discs tend to degrade from the outer edge inward as the organic
dyes break down. Most discs aren't filled to capacity, so the degradation
may not be a problem for most uses.

This is also true of "printed" discs. E.g., in the laser video disc days,
it was called "laser rot". I've also encountered store-bought (prerecorded)
audio CD's that were defective.

And, with the extensive ECC employed on them, you have no way of knowing
how *much* error correcting is happening "under the hood"; no way to
anticipate failures!

Back when I used CD's for backups, I used software that split the data
over multiple discs. It filled each disc to capacity, so data was written
right out to very edge of the disc. I babied the discs in cool, dark
places too, but several discs had numerous errors just a year later when
I tried to verify them.

Likewise, tape and MO media.

Magnetic media seems to be fairly reliable as long as you keep them away
from magnetic fields.

You have to "retension" tape periodically to avoid "print through".

Yes. I probably have ~20+T in my archive. But, that incorporates the
redundancy -- at least two copies of everything. I have every
"object" tracked in a database using a simple schema

My system is no where as complicated. I keep everything on the 1TB drive
in my computer. That gets backed up several times a day to an external
3TB USB drive. Once a month or so, I swap that backup drive with another
drive I keep in a safe deposit box at the bank. Then once or twice a year
I make a "last hope" backup to blu-ray discs.

Obviously, I've got a lot more "data" in my archive. :

I've got about 1T of audio/music, alone (plus 1T to mirror that).
I can recover all of it from the original CD's (stored under the bed)
but it is a HUGE hassle to do so!

Disks are way too convenient. And, thankfully, cheap. If you aren't
looking for performance (access time), then even consumer grade stuff is
good enough.

Ironically, I haven't needed to restore anything from my backups since I
put the system in place many years ago.

I've used the "cold archive" approach virtually since the beginning.
Originally, I used SCSI disks that I kept piled on a shelf in the closet.
I would pull the drive of interest off the shelf, plug it into a
SCSI enclosure, spin the drive up and mount it (all of this can be done
without rebooting the computer -- much like you can with USB, now).
Then, pull the files I want from the drive. When done, power it down
and move it back onto the shelf.

I'd keep two copies of each drive -- same make/model. So, if something
happened to one copy, I could retrieve the desired information from the
second copy (hard to call one of them a "backup" as they are both
effectively "backups").

Some time in the 90's, I was using 4G drives for my archive. I'd bought
a couple dozen (significant investment, back then!) to try to consolidate
my archive onto fewer media.

One day, I went to pull some stuff off of a (cold) drive and the drive
"crashed" (still spinning, but totally corrupted). I wasn't keen at
the idea that I'd lost a $1K drive, but figured the data was the real
"value", there.

So, I pulled the second copy off the shelf and installed it, instead.
And it, too, died miserably! (WTF???)

[At that time, I wasn't in the habit of installing the write protect
jumpers on the drives!]

Long story short: a bug in the OS's SCSI disk driver was incompatible
with this particular make/model disk. I.e., it would "crash" EVERY
one of my drives, if I gave it the chance!

So, I backed out that most recent OS upgrade, reformatted the two "failed"
drives and rebuilt them from a copy I kept on MO media (I take the
integrity of my archive VERY seriously!)

Other than that fiasco, any other "losses" have been Operator Error.
Usually, typing on the wrong keyboard (sending the 'rm *' command to
the wrong computer). But, as I keep frequent updates (I push files
to one or more NAS's while I am working -- so I can undo changes
without having to deal with the VCS), I seldom lose much of anything
(other than my dignity).

Exactly. The flaw in most backup scenarios (and why I have the
"active scrubbing" mechanism outlined above). You *may* get an ECC
error ("read error") when you try to make that backup. But, the
"drive/transport/driver" usually won't let you see the raw,
"corrupted" data in those events! So, you can't even decide if
"everything looks intact except the name on the document is AnThony
instead of Anthony (single bit flip)!

Yep, it's extremely rare, but it has happened to me in the past.

I wish someone would make external WORM drives (write once, read many)
with decent capacity at an affordable price. Sandisk used to make 1GB USB
WORM drives but I don't think they're available anymore. 1GB is way too
small these days anyway. It wouldn't even hold a short HD video.

I have (small capacity) MO drives in the 600M-1G-4G capacity.
Some years ago, I stumbled on a cache of NOS 652MB IBM MO cartridges.
Cost me $7 for a lot of 200-300 of them. "Such a deal" :
Slow but a *backup* of an archive can be dog slow as it's rarely used!

At one time, I had a WORM drive that could handle laser video discs
(12" media). But, media was way too expensive (and the recorder was
essentially a piece of furniture!)

The M-Disc's are probably the closest to that idea, but they're expensive
and the 25GB capacity is still quite limited.

I use tape for "small-ish" backups -- ~40G on a cartridge. The advantage
they have is that I can remove them (to prevent me from overwriting) and
set them aside with a label. Too easy to lose track of which "folder"
holds which set of backup files on a large disk!

Yup. And CD/DVD/BRay/MO/tape/etc. are just as vulnerable to fire,
water damage, etc. OTOH, paper rarely suffers from a "bearing
failure"... :

That's why I keep a second backup in my safe deposit box. If I have a
major disaster at home, I'll still have the drive at the bank. If the
bank is destroyed, I still have my copies at home.

I live on a mountain, the bank is down in the valley. So the odds of us
suffering the same disaster are unlikely. If we're both hit, my computer
data is probably the least of my worries...

I gave all my clients advanced warning a few years ago that I wouldn't
be taking on new business. Implicit in that is "if you've got any
problems with any of my OLD business, speak now" (I guaranteed ongoing
free support for all my work). So, I will gradually be retiring those
portions of my archive that aren't of "personal value" and reclaiming
or repurposing the resources that were previously set aside for those
uses. (but, even THAT takes time/effort!)

(Do you have backups of the various *drives* that each of these media
require?)

Nope, but I have redundency. If one drive fails, I still have two other
copies to fall back on. Three if you count the Blu-Ray discs.

Sorry, I meant "backup BluRay drive, backup *tape* drive, etc." I.e.
whatever hardware is required to access the media on which your data
resides.

[I've used lots of different media over the years so have had lots
of different "drives" to address those media.]

I also migrate my backups to new drives as technology improves. Actually,
I usually upgrade to new drives long before they wear out because I need
more storage space.

Ditto. I've been opting for the cheap consumer drives in that regard.
Of course, if there's a manufacturing flaw, I can get screwed in a heartbeat
(as it would likely impact more than one instance of a particular product).

I choose which media in which I want to "invest" my IP. Certain things
are more precious than others -- and warrant more effort and resources.
(If I lost my music archive, I'd just shrug. OTOH, if I lost the sources
for my current project, I'd be pretty annoyed!)

frown Thankfully, I don't appear to have any similar problems.

I used to live on fried foods. Then my wife insisted I started eating
healthier. It took a while to adjust but now that's just our normal diet.
Now if I try to eat the foods I used to enjoy, they make me feel tired
and bloated.

Ah. SWMBO has a pretty rational diet. So, this keeps me from indulging
in past "bad practices". E.g., I used to just buy a beef tenderloin
and have the butcher cut it into steaks; then eat one each evening.
Yummy! But, apparently all that red meat is not a good thing :

["If it tastes good, spit it out!"]

She also insists on *balanced* meals. I.e., not JUST that piece of meat
(regardless of how large it is). So, unless we want to cook twice as many
meals each day, we have to come up with a compromise...

Unfortunately, I have *lots* of "seasonal allergies".

I am thankful I do not have any allergies. Every spring the pollen here
in the forest is so bad my black car turns a shade of green. It's a mess
to clean up, but I don't get so much as a sniffle.

Our vehicles are currently yellow if sitting outdoors for more than
a few hours. I can't do anything about what others have chosen to
plant. Nor the flora that is typical for this region (to much of which
I am seriously allergic).

And, unfortunately, many of the things we *want* in the yard (hummingbird
friendly, citrus, etc.) are also triggers for me. I lined the front entrance
with Texas Mountain Laurels:

http://www.moonvalleynurseries.com/application/files/cache/15a8aa0a4c264643cad1e5ec41433ef3.jpg
as they are drought tolerant, present an effective "privacy screen"
and are delightfully fragrant when in bloom (smells like Welch's grape
soda). But, enjoying their scent comes with a price tag... :

I find it invaluable for "lack of sleep" headaches.

With only rare exceptions, I have never had a problem sleeping either.
I'm out as soon as I hit the bed and easily sleep 8 hours without waking
up. I wake up refreshed and excited to start a new day.

My problem is GOING to bed and STAYING in bed. E.g., I went to bed
just before 6A this morning. And, was up at 8:30A. It's now 11P
and I'm just getting into my "stride"...

I guess I just consider sore muscles to be a natural consequence of
physical labor. Never thought of "taking" anything for them

Unfortunately, I've struggled with back pain most of my life. Sometimes
it gets so bad I have sharp painful spasms that drop me to the ground.
Extremely painful. I usually have to go to the doctor and take muscle
relaxers for a few days when it gets that bad.

I've got some back problems -- but no back *pain*. I'm very aware of
how I use my back lest I aggravate things. If I do, pain meds aren't
the answer! :