Before I get to what my new backup hardware consists of, it might be helpful to know a bit about my existing (old) setup. My home network consists of a workstation, a laptop, a netbook, a seldom-used garage PC, and a multipurpose server. Among it’s many duties, the server is a centralized backup server, allowing the various computers to back up files each night. It runs on an old AMD Athlon motherboard with 512MB RAM, using a 30 GB drive for the OS and programs and a pair of 200 GB drives for storage and backup.

Prior to this upgrade, the backup drive was regularly at 95% capacity. Even with the intelligent pooling technology used by the BackupPC software it had become necessary to limit the number of nightly backups I was keeping in order to make space for the unique data from the various PCs.  So I decided it was time to upgrade my storage situation.

I had been debating for a while how to best increase my storage space while also ensuring the integrity and protection of my data. Having recently witnessed my parents’ misfortune and recognizing that if a similar tragedy would have happened to me that many priceless digital memories and large amounts of work-related data would have been lost, I knew it was time for a system that incorporated some kind of off-site backup.

One option I contemplated was an online backup service, where your data is stored in the “cloud” and available whenever and wherever you need to access it. The particular provider I considered was SpiderOak. I had one of their free 2 GB accounts already and I was very impressed with their security and privacy policies as well as their interoperability with Linux. However, the problem with such online backup options is their monthly fees. For the price of 100 GB per year at SpiderOak I could buy a hard drive ten times that size!

So that’s what I did – I bought two 1TB hard drives. This will allow for one hard drive to be in service and the other stored at a secure, off-site location in case of disaster. I’ll have tons of storage space and no monthly fees. A win-win situation.

Of course, juggling two different drives means additional complications with set-up and management, but those are later blog posts.

My original plan was to buy two bare drives and two USB enclosures. My server does not support serial ATA (SATA) drives, so USB seemed easiest for both compatibility and swap-ability. I’ll elaborate later, but to make a long story short USB simply was not adequate for my particular needs, so I ended up purchasing a PCI SATA controller as well. Thankfully the enclosures supported both USB and eSATA, so everything else was simply a matter of configuration (also another post.)

So finally, here’s the hardware I ended up using to make my backup plans a reality. All links are to Newegg, my personal favorite purveyor of computer parts. (The prices listed were as of July 2009, and I’m sure will probably become laughable as time passes.)

• 2 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS  1TB SATA drives – $79.99 ea.
• 2 Vantec NST-300SU external USB / eSATA enclosures – $27.98 ea.
• Rosewill RC-210 PCI internal & external SATA controller – $19.99

Total cost – $235.93 (All the items qualified for free shipping at the time I ordered them.) Less than the cost of 100GB for two years through an online backup provider.

Thus far I’ve had no hardware-related problems, and everything has been superbly compatible with Linux (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS / Hardy Heron.) The drives are extraordinarily quiet. Since the server still has 3 internal hard drives and several fans, the new external drives are basically inaudible.

The only nitpick I’ve got is with the Vantec enclosures. There is a bright blue power / activity LED on the front the enclosure, and when you install the drive into the internal tray you have to plug the LED in as you put the enclosure back together. Two small, recessed screws hold the drive tray in place. I found (with both my enclosures) that if I tightened the screws all the way down, completely closing the gap between the tray and the rest of the enclosure, the lights would not work. If I backed the screws out just a few threads everything worked fine. I don’t think the gap is large enough to pose a concern, so it’s basically just a small aesthetic annoyance. Not a deal-breaker, but something worth noting.

That’s it for the hardware specs! Next up, formatting the removable drives and setting them up with LUKS encryption.

Over the next couple days (weeks?) you can expect more on the following topics:

• New backup hardware: drives, enclosures, and controller card
• Setting things up: LUKS encryption on external drives
• Specifying a shared mount point in Ubuntu Linux
• Switching from USB to eSATA, making eSATA automount
• Making external encrypted drives work with BackupPC

As you can tell from this list I faced a lot of hoops to jump through in order to get this up and running. I’ll add links to the individual posts as I write them. Feel free to ask questions if you’ve got any!

What do things like word processing and surfing the ‘net have to do with saving the environment? More than you might realize. In this day and age of constant connection it is increasingly common for households to have multiple computers left running 24/7. In addition, the marketplace’s push for us to constantly upgrade our computing equipment means that there is a lot of “e-waste” with lead or other toxic chemicals that is not being disposed of properly. Here are some quick tips and links on how you can make your computing experience a little greener:

Power Down

I’ll start off with a tip that I admit I could do more often. Currently we have three computers in our house (a server, a workstation, and a laptop) that stay on all day and all night. My excuse for doing so is that they are all set to back themselves up to the server overnight. Some folks also leave their computers on at night to do things like update virus protection or run system updates. To help counter this practice a little bit my wife and I have instituted a practice of going “unplugged” on Monday nights, powering off our two main computers (and the television) around 6pm and leaving them off all night long. In the near future I plan to rework our backup server’s schedule and set up our computers to initiate a timed shutdown automatically (using GShutdown) after we have gone to bed. Windows users may want to look into Poweroff for the same sort of functionality.

Also, powering off peripherals such as speakers, monitors, and printers when you’re not using them can help cut your power consumption as well. All modern operating systems will allow you to set up your monitor to automatically enter a low power “sleep mode” after a predetermined amount of time. Instead of setting your computer to display a screensaver when it goes idle, which means your monitor continues to use the same amount of energy, you can set it up to cut your monitor off after 5 minutes instead. After all, do you really need a screensaver to remind you that you’ve stopped using your computer? You may also want to check out the SmartStrip, which is a surge protector that will automatically cut the power to accessories when you power down your computer.

Reuse or Recycle Old Hardware

There is an increasing amount of e-waste being generated by our society. A great deal of this comes from old computers. Knowing that many computer parts like circuit boards and hard drives can contain hazardous chemicals, I have never thrown away any computer hardware (much to my wife’s chagrin.) In addition, I try not to replace hardware unless it physically fails. This recently happened when my server’s motherboard and power supply literally melted down, fusing to one another and shorting out in the process. Both parts were about 7 years old and had been running nearly 24/7 since they were purchased. Not too shabby. But instead of going out and buying all new hardware to rebuild my home server, I instead walked out to my garage and disassembled an old computer I had been using for web surfing and streaming music while I worked on cars. It only took a day or so of work to get my server back up and running, and with no additional cost.

One of the things that allows me to get by without using cutting-edge hardware is the fact that I run Ubuntu Linux on all of our computers. Like most versions of Linux, Ubuntu can run comfortably (and quickly) on older hardware. It has been my experience that most installations of Windows become bloated to the point where they slow to a crawl after a couple of years. Meanwhile, I recently replaced my garage computer with one that was saved from a local dumpster (how’s that for reusing!) and it runs Ubuntu quite easily, despite the fact that most of its hardware is at least 10 years old! Sure, I won’t be doing as much multi-tasking or complex number-crunching on that computer, but for surfing the web and listening to music it works just fine.

So what should we do with all of our old computers that have either died or we no longer need? My recommendation would be to find a local charity or other organization that will recycle (or reuse) your old computer for you. You may be able to find such places by calling up some locally owned computer shops in your area (who may also be willing to take your old hardware off your hands.) The church I currently attend has recently started a computer “hardware co-op” that does this. For a small processing fee they will take nearly any old computer parts and either properly dispose of them or rebuild them into functioning computers that can then be redistributed to those who may not be able to afford computers otherwise. It’s a great idea, and one that I hope catches on.

Greener Hardware

Finally, when you do find that it’s time to replace aging or failing hardware, you can do so with more environmentally friendly products. I recently replaced the power supply and motherboard in our workstation, and in doing so I was sure to look at products that were RoHS compliant, meaning that they contained less toxic chemicals, and when possible I tried to look for solutions that used less energy. One way of getting computers to use less energy is to start from the source of their energy, the power supply. The 80 PLUS program is an effort to certify and recognize high-efficiency power supplies that may use up to 33% less energy than similar, non-certified models. The model I ended up settling on is an Antec EarthWatts EA380, which at the time had a mail-in rebate that made it nearly the same price as other similarly-sized units.

Another consideration when upgrading hardware is the fact that LCD flat-panel monitors are much more power efficient than old-fashioned CRT monitors. LCDs are more efficient not only when they’re in use, but also when they are turned off in sleep mode. Depending on how much time your monitor spends “awake” or “asleep” you could use between 60% and 90% less energy by switching from a CRT to a flat panel of a similar size.

If you are looking to replace your entire computer system, a popular low-energy solution is to get a laptop. In general, laptops use much less power than desktops, plus you have the added convenience of being able to pick up your computer and take it wherever you like. Just don’t forget to properly recycle those batteries! You may think that getting a laptop would cost much more than getting a desktop, but that’s not necessarily the case, especially if you’re willing to look into the possibility of getting a slightly used model (reuse and recycle, remember?) I recently helped acquire a lightly used IBM Thinkpad laptop for my mother-in-law for less than $500. Though it may not be brand new, after loading it with a fresh install of Ubuntu it has been a great system for her to use on a regular basis.

I hope these ideas help to spark your interest in the growing “green computing” movement. If you’ve got any additional ideas of how to make our interactions with technology less environmentally intrusive I’d love for you to share them, so post them in the comments section below.

Update: Here are a couple links for further reading on this subject …

• Easy Ways to Go Green with Your Computer @ Lifehacker
• 8 Ways to Easily Reduce the Energy Consumption of Your Computer – and Save Big Money @ The Simple Dollar

First of all let me say that the WordPress folks have made this program pretty darn easy to upgrade. I took the extra step of backing up my existing install (database and files just to be safe) and dove in. The basic process is as follows:

1. Download the new files
2. Copy the files to your server
3. Tell WordPress to upgrade your database (if needed)

And that’s it! For most of the files you can simply overwrite or delete the old files completely, with the exception of things like themes and plugins. I didn’t time how long the upgrade process took, but I’m sure it was 15 minutes or less.

So what did I get for all my (not-so) hard work? The main focus of this revision to WordPress is a completely revamped “back end” where I write posts, manage comments, and do other blogger-ly things. That means that readers won’t see much of a difference, but trust me things are better over here than they were! There is a new theme and layout which is much easier on the eyes and has better usability. There also are some nifty new upload features that make putting my photos and artwork on the site a lot easier. Overall I’ve been very pleased with the upgrade thus far and would recommend it to others.

The one change that readers may notice is that articles in the RSS feeds are no longer truncated the same way they are on the front page of the blog. Therefore, you’ll now get complete articles if you choose to subscribe. (I know that some people actually prefer to get the shorter synopses. If you are one of these people, make some noise in the comments and I might think about changing this!)

Any of you other WordPress bloggers out there make the switch to 2.5 yet? What do you think of it? If not, are you going to? Let’s hear about it in the comments …