I agree that RAID is not a backup, but that doesn't mean that my backup can't be a RAID . . .

Agreed. I recently was reading that in a Raid 5 array with 2TB disks it is likely that you will lose data in the event of a single disk failure because of UREs. I have been thinking that setting up various raid 10 spindles is the best way to archive and protect data. One spindle for use, and another for backup, all with 1TB drives (2TB of space with 4 1TB drives). It strikes me that HDD is a terribly inefficient way to back up data securely, but surely it is better than optical disks.

I remember reading an interview with Woz where he said the future of computing was appliances rather than general purpose computers. I think this is the path that Apple has always taken, or at least since they started trying to get the Newton to work. Their biggest markets are in the appliances (MP3 player, set top box, tablet, phone) rather than with the computers (which I like, but they really are commodity pieces in nice looking cases). I have no doubt that the Steves agreed on this and that Woz could step in and keep the engineering and product visions clean, but also have no real belief that that will occur.

My point is what I said it was. Not that this is necessairly a good idea (you certainly make some passionate please against it) but that the original point made is valid (it's a better use than what we are currently doing with the money which is destroying things). I really couldn't care less if you agree, but you keep wanting to argue a different point. Where is your passion towards the trillions of dollars we are spending to destroy? Is that something you view as money well spent? The point is that our current use of money is getting us nowhere and is moving us backwards. Money spent on this mission would be constructive, and after 10 years at a moderate funding level I'd be surprised if there were not some fundamental breakthroughs. I would be against it though, for a lot of the same reasons you would be. But it is still a better use of the money than what we are currently doing with it.

It would in fact be very easy to get one trillion dollars to fund a 10 year project out of the defense budget only. As a nation our priorities are feeding the defense industry trillions of dollars each decade with very little to show for it. We could cut the f35 program, then close all overseas bases. You only need to cut the dod budget by 15% annually.

But that's really not the point. The point is that we waste more money than the mission would cost. Do I think that mission is the best use for the money? Probably not. But it's better than what we are currently doing with it.

The first I saw "out of the defense budget" was your post (and I don't really think you have a good estimate of the defense budget). I didn't really read the rest because it spuds like you're arguing something but I think it's not with anything ive said.

And you're not accounting for did spending outside the budget (the so called black money). But I'm not talking annual budget I'm talking program budget, and no one in this thread has said the things that you attribute to "everybody". So if you have a point then make it, but your previous post doesn't actually say anything.

It's just what we are currently doing with it. GP could have said that it's better than throwing the money at training strippers, but since we aren't already doing that, and because that may actually garner a lot of support here, it would not have been as strong an argument.

Rolling apocalypse

Agreed. My data loss happened from theft, and the backup was stolen as well. Now my backup drive sits hidden away, wirelessly capturing my backups. Time capsule is a good solution, but there are others. I just bought a 2gb external drive for $160, combined with a wireless router that has a usb port could be a less expensive alternative. I'm actually thinking that the 2gb drives might not be a good backup solution, and am looking into building a NAS specifically for backup using 4 500gb drives in a Raid 5 configuration as a backup (I know raid isn't backup, but that doesn't mean your backup can't be a raid array).