[TAG] [edwardblaize at gmail.com: 5400 series averatec & linux.]

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Neil Youngman (ny at youngman.org.uk):

> That does depend on how you define the problem(s). 
> 
> In this case a lack of backups seems to be one of the problems. If the
> hard disk had died she would still have lost her data, but we couldn't
> blame Bill.

To a degree, you can:  MS-DOS / MS-Windows systems have historically had
relatively poor and unreliable segregation of user data files from
system files, making it rather more difficult to back up only the files
that merit inclusion in backup sets.  Thus the attitude I commonly see
in Linux newcomers (and even in longtime Linux users who ought to know
better -- harrumph!) of "Oh, backup means just making a separate copy of
the entire hard disk."

Knowing which directories need backup and which would be pointless is
_much_ easier on *ixes (well, except for ones with peculiarly botched
trees, like OS X).  Thus "Backup Scheme" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Admin/ , 
in fact.