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What do you use for complete backup's?

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ChadTower:

--- Quote from: leapinlew on January 23, 2008, 03:52:11 pm ---Subversion is a lot of firepower for this simple task.

--- End quote ---

I am a Subversion admin where I work.  It is way more than what he needs here and represents a rather hellacious learning curve for someone who isn't going to be using it persistently.  All this guy has to do is use a Ghost backup or similar to make a second drive.  People seem to be worried about the ROMs... the ROMs are easily replaced.  It is the software, and all of the complex configurations and customizations, that are valuable. 

Either way, a full drive backup will accomplish everything he needs and is reasonable considering the overall cost of building a full cabinet.

unclet:
leapinlew
I was referring to backing my cabinet installs which include about 30+ emulators and all the files which go with each one ...... not just Mame.

ChadTower
Once I get a verified set of Roms for all my emulators, it is a lot easier to simply store the complete setup somewhere in case something bad happens.   This way I can simply copy everything back over to "reinstall/reconfigure" everything .... mostly.   There are handful of steps I need to do when reinstalling everything after the copy has completed but I have this all this written down as well so I do not forget anything.

Yeah, you can regenerate you Rom files and it might be considered easy for some people, but the most painless way I know, once I have a verified set of ROMs to to simply store them away on a spare hard drive.

SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: leapinlew on January 23, 2008, 03:52:11 pm ---
--- Quote from: SavannahLion on January 23, 2008, 03:45:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: leapinlew on January 23, 2008, 10:04:29 am ---The advantage of the cd's is you have a version history you can revert to if a change you made had unexpected side effects you don't see initially. Especially games you infrequently play. I'm sure you don't test your new tweak on every game on your system?

--- End quote ---
If versioning is high on your criteria list and you're making lots of changes, it would be better to use CVS, Subversion or some other appropriate versioning tool. I used to do the CD/DVD method for versioning and it got really crazy after a while. At one point, I had a spindle of 50 CD's filled with backups for a particular project. When I caught myself fashioning a custom database to keep track of which CD had which versions, I opted for other solutions.

--- End quote ---

Seriously Savanna? We are talking about MAME here right? You're suggesting to put flat files, that your the only one using into Subversion? I mean, if the files fit on a CD - I don't see the issue with creating a disc when you've made enough changes to justify a backup. After enough history - you can start throwing away discs. If you're concerned about physical storage - just zip the folders up, date'em and move on.

Subversion is a lot of firepower for this simple task.

I really don't see the issue with dating a cd with a sharpie and moving forward.  :o

--- End quote ---

That's why I qualified my statement with, "some other appropriate versioning tool." I agree that Subversion and CVS have some hellacious learning curves there. I've been ---smurfing--- with Subv for at least three years now and I still can't get some of the functions down. I'm reasonably certain there is a pseudo-versioning tool specific to this application, but I can't recall which one it is.

My point is, when you get into the habit of using discs as a means of keeping track of history, it's all too easy to loose track of what is what and where. I don't know about you, but even with the practice of discarding older dics, those things have a nasty tendency to collect. Spindles start growing like trees on the desk. Horizontal surfaces are covered in colorful plastic quilts. In our house, we have six operational CD/DVD burners all producing different discs and keeping a reign on all those discs they produce is a royal pain.

ChadTower:

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on January 23, 2008, 04:33:31 pm ---My point is, when you get into the habit of using discs as a means of keeping track of history, it's all too easy to loose track of what is what and where. I don't know about you, but even with the practice of discarding older dics, those things have a nasty tendency to collect. Spindles start growing like trees on the desk. Horizontal surfaces are covered in colorful plastic quilts. In our house, we have six operational CD/DVD burners all producing different discs and keeping a reign on all those discs they produce is a royal pain.

--- End quote ---

Versioned backups like that are a normal IT practice.  You keep 4 or 5 of them around... each time you take a new backup, you recycle the oldest of the group, ensuring that you always have the last 4-5 backups but don't have a massive storage problem as you've pointed out.

SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on January 23, 2008, 04:37:16 pm ---Versioned backups like that are a normal IT practice.  You keep 4 or 5 of them around... each time you take a new backup, you recycle the oldest of the group, ensuring that you always have the last 4-5 backups but don't have a massive storage problem as you've pointed out.

--- End quote ---

I understand that. What I don't understand is is that supposed to be directed to me or to the general populous  ???

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