47: This Robot's got your back...up
2009-03-01
Download MP3 For Geekons Episode 47
Pop-Up: Printable Checklist
- You'll never guess what Printable Checklist does...
- It creates a printable checklist!
- The nice thing about printable checklist is the fact that it is so incredibly simple. It does only one thing, and does it well.
- You can add new items, edit items by simply clicking on them, and change the title of your list.
- When you are done creating your checklist, you can simply click print, grab a pen, and start checking things off as you do them!
- 4 out of 5 stars, It does what it says on the tin, but I'd prefer an option for font-size, so I could fit more items on the page at once.
Geek-Tweak: How to use Robocopy to automate backups
- Download and install the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools onto the machine you'd like to back up. ( http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en )
- Create a batch file with a command to use robocopy to back up a folder to another folder (preferably on a network drive in a different room)
- Read the Wikipedia entry on robocopy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy
- Decide what you want to accomplish
- Write the command in a batch file, and test it on a small directory.
- Change it to the full directory you'd like to run it on, and test it again.
- I use something like: robocopy c:sourcedirectory \backupserversharebackupfolder /MIR /Z /LOG+:c:logsbackup.txt
- That basically mirrors the source directory to the backup server directory, keeps tabs on things so it can pick up where it left off in the event of network failure, and appends a new log to an existing log file.
- Once you've made your batch file, just add it as an automated task, like we did with our 7-zip batch file on Episode 46. Just remember to give 7-zip enough time to archive everything into a folder, then have your robocopy batch file mirror the folder full of compressed files to a network shared drive. (Or a USB drive in a pinch)
- Some dangers of robocopy:
- Certain functions, like /MIR will delete files on your backup server that were deleted on the main server, making this NOT a good choice for avoiding erroneous deletions by users.
- If you forget to use /MIR, /S, or /E then subdirectories will not be copied!
- If you write the function out of order, you may wind up deleting the files you want to back up!
- Using robocopy doesn't guarantee that you will be able to copy all files, so simply running robocopy on your C: is not the equivalent of a system backup.
- Some benefits of robocopy:
- Robocopy won't stop halfway due to a single error. It just keeps on going, picking up at the next file.
- You can have robocopy attempt to copy the same file multiple times, so you have a better chance at copying the file properly.
- Robocopy can pick up where it left off in the event of a network or hardware error without having to copy files that have not been modified since the last time you ran robocopy.
View-Source: Being a bright and salty geek for God
- In Matthew 5:13-16 we read about being the Salt of the Earth, and a City on a Hill.
- As a geek, and as someone who doesn't use salt much, that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, so I decided to pull out the good ol' Modern Geekons Version of the bible to see what this means.
- According to the MGV: "We are the Backup Server of the LAN, but if our drive platters and tape lose their magnetism, how can we store data? The whole backup server is good for nothing but electronics recycling day."
- As Christians, we should be backing up the data God wants us to back-up, and restoring it when the data gets corrupted by society.
- If you have a backup server that has all your organization's financials on it, then someone corrupts a database, what do you do? You simply pop in the appropriate tape and run a restore job. No biggie.
- Well, God wants us to behave the same way spiritually. If we are storing God's word in our hearts, and someone tries to go against what God's word says, we can simply restore our brother or sister through scripture and Godly encouragement.
- If we lose our magnetism, our storage of the true data, we just wind up making stuff up that usually has a negative impact in the long run, even though we think it might be good advice.
- How about that city on a hill? What's that all about?
- Well, in the Modern Geekons Version we read that "You are the WiFi Access Point, a broadcasted SSID that cannot be hidden. Neither do people create public WiFi then disable SSID broadcast and enable MAC filtering. Instead, they get an amplified multi-band antenna and post signs so everyone in the area can join. In the same way, boost your signal strength and provide filtered content so people will see your free and clean service, and praise your Father in heaven."
- Whew, that's a mouth-full, but it is also very clear. We are to be transparent and outgoing about our faith in Christ!
- By providing a great signal strength, by being overtly Christian and consistently obedient to God in our thoughts AND actions, the world will see a difference in us.
- Imagine, being the geek that smiles, even when users forget to send the text of the error message, and can't seem to duplicate it for you to troubleshoot but still expect you to solve their problem.
- Imagine during any of life's hardships that bump you and knock you down, if you kept positive and kept praising your heavenly Father?
- By setting ourselves apart, openly and outwardly representing and obeying Christ, and by actively impressing God's standards on society (restoring the backups from the only perfect user), we can truly be the salt of the Earth and a city on the hill.
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