Backup Solution

This post is taking things in a slightly different direction. If you are not technically inclined, you will probably want to stop reading immediately :).

I have spent a while trying to figure out a good backup strategy for all my media, and I think I have come to a pretty solid solution.

At a high level, I use rsync to backup my computers to a D-Link DNS-323 RAID1 (mirroring) NAS, which runs cronjobs to backup select stuff to my Dreamhost account.

I use rsync for just about everything. Since Janel and I are mac users, I needed to get the latest and greatest release (3.0.5 right now) in order to handle as many of the OSX FS attributes as possible. There is a good write-up on how to get it installed here. I run rsync by hand from the command line to get it backed up to my NAS.

$RSYNC -e 'ssh -c blowfish -ax' -avx -S --delete --exclude-from $EXCLUDE $* $SRC $USERNAME@$IP:$DST

OK, that is about all there is on the Mac side. Moving to the NAS.

The DNS-323 has an embedded processor that runs linux. It is a pretty weak processor, but does the trick here. It is really easy to hack into it and enable ssh (and therefore whatever you want). D-Link appears to be supportive of the backdoor that gives you access. There is tons of documentation on it at wiki.dns3232.info. Using blowfish for your encryption (see command line above) will really help your transfer rate. The slow processor is only able to maintain ~3MB/s using rsync.

I tried a variety of other solutions, but found that the easiest thing to do was just install (and use) rsyncd. I have installed the latest release in order to support all the mac attributes.

In addition to keeping the data mirrored across the two drives, I run a cronjob (on the DNS 323) that keeps a monthly backup of my data.

So, that should get the data over to the NAS. However, if I were to get robbed or have a fire, I would lose everything. I decided it would be best to find an off-site backup solution. Most of the solutions out there do not support linux, or they are really expensive. I found a webhost -- dreamhost.com -- that provides 50GB of "backup" space. Most of the webhosts out there get pissy when you backup stuff (particularly music) to their servers (even if you set it's permissions so that people can't download). Dreamhost addresses this by giving you space on a separate server that you can use for backups. If you go beyond the 50GB, they charge you $0.10 per month per GB. Dreamhost also has ssh and rsyncd running on their servers for easy sync'ing.

If you decide to sign up for Dreamhost, you should google around for coupons. There are tons available. I was able to save $97 on my first year's service.

I run a weekly cronjob which pushes all my music into the backup space on Dreamhost. It also copies all my photography into the regular webspace (which I was told would be fine). It is really annoying to do off-site backups if you have a laptop because it takes so long to upload the files (and I tend to close my laptop when I am not using it). However, I can upload over my local network to my NAS relatively quickly ... and then I can let my NAS take it's sweet time uploading offsite.

Mt Adams Backpacking

This weekend I went backpacking with Jagan, Julien, and Michelle. We went to the Mt Adams Highline Trail, which is a trail that goes *almost* all the way around Mt Adams. We did not try to take the full 38 mile trail :) (especially since the car shuttle distance is 53 miles of crappy roads). Rather, we went in at Cold Springs Camp (where you start for the popular southern summit route) over to Horseshoe Meadow. This was about 7 miles each way.

The first mile or so is shared with many people who are heading up to make a summit attempt. At ~1.2 miles, this trail runs into the Highline trail, and you make a left. From this point on, we saw only 3 groups of people over two days. After the initial climb, the trail meanders along the tree line with little elevation gain. There are frequent views of Adams, Hood, and St. Helens.

Horseshoe meadows was an okay camp. I was not particularly impressed by the meadows. It may be a little early in the season though. Next time I think I would check out Lookingglass Lake (about the same distance) or try to make it to Crystal Lake.

The photograph was pretty good. It was a bit too hazy on Saturday, so the shots were not that great. Here is one of St Helens (from a nice lunch spot):

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 55mm, f/7.1, 1/100s From Mt Adams 2009

Mt Adams at sunset:

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 18mm, f/11, 3.2s From Mt Adams 2009

Mt Hood at sunrise:

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 18mm, f/11, 1/50s From Mt Adams 2009

Michelle and Julien walking along a wildflower covered slope. I kinda like the lens flair in this one.

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 28mm, f/11, 1/15s From Mt Adams 2009

More Neighborhood Photos

One of the things I learned recently was that it is best to take flower photography on cloudy days (especially after a rain when there is still water on the petals). As we were driving home from swimming, we noticed a nice bed of flowers at a nearby park, and we decided to take a walk over and snap some shots.

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 116mm, f/6.3, 1/160s From Around the Neighborhood

I also took some pics of my hydrangeas in the front yard.

Ian Steiner Canon 500d, 250mm, f/8, 1/25s From Around the Neighborhood

Photo at Mount Rainier

Here is a photo taken by Julien on our trip to Mt Rainier last weekend. It turned out quite well, so I thought I would post it here.

Julien Sebot Leica M8, 35mm, f/2, 1/250s From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

Mt Rainier Camping

Over the long weekend for Independence Day, Janel and I went camping up at Mt Rainier (Cougar Rock Campground) with Michelle, Julien, Allen, Melvin, Anne, Jason, Kevin, and Andy.

We drove up and met at the camp on Friday, and then headed out to the Comet Falls hike. We got really lucky, as the snow had just cleared enough over the previous week to make the trail safe without ice axes. We first encountered some falls that we mistook for Comet Falls. They were quite nice, but not particularly exciting.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

Then Andy figured out that we were being idiots, and we walked a few hundred more feet and found our true destination. Allen decided it was the best waterfall he had ever seen. It was quite large, and you could get right up close to it and bask in its mist.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

After the hike, we headed back to camp for a nice dinner over the fire (mostly fresh Salmon) and some whiskey and beer. We called it an early night to get ready for a busy Saturday.

Saturday morning Julien and I got up at 4:45 to take some pictures of the mountain at sunrise. We headed over to Reflection Lake and setup our tripods and took a bunch of shots.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

We then headed back to camp, had some breakfast, and then set out for some hiking up near Paradise. Allen, Melvin, and Ann decided to hike from Paradise up to Camp Muir, the base camp for the standard summit route. The rest of us were not feeling that ambitious. We followed in their footsteps up to Panoramic Point and Pebble Creek before turning back. Couple things of note from this trip. (1) I love my polarizer. (2) Kevin's Yacktracks saved the day. Janel would have had a real hard time with her recovering knee negotiating the snow without them. We are going to grab a couple pairs despite the "they are great until they break" reviews.

Here is a photo of a Marmot (which were all over the place) with the mountain.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

Here is a photo looking south with Adams, Hood (in the distance in the middle), and St. Helens from Panorama Point.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

That afternoon Jason met us at camp. Michelle, him, Kevin, and Andy hiked up the Westside Road (now largely closed to cars) to Lake George and gave the hike poor reviews. Janel, Julien, and I relaxed and read at camp.

That evening we had another fire. Here is a photo of Janel cooking a marshmallow. I love being able to take low-light photos with my new camera. You still get some noise at ISO 1600, but in general the photos look pretty solid.

From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July

The next morning we packed up camp and headed out. The first big trip of the year was a success!