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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/tips/offline_archive_drives.mdwn | 68 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/use_case/Bob.mdwn | 4 |
2 files changed, 70 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/doc/tips/offline_archive_drives.mdwn b/doc/tips/offline_archive_drives.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 000000000..3f073dbcb --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/tips/offline_archive_drives.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +After you've used git-annex for a while, you will have data in your repository +that you don't want to keep in the limited disk space of a laptop or a server, +but that you don't want to entirely delete. + +This is where git-annex's support for offline archive drives shines. +You can move old files to an archive drive, which can be kept offline if +it's not practical to keep it spinning. Better, you can move old files to +two or more archive drives, in case one of them later fails to spin up. +(One consideration when [[future_proofing]] your archive.) + +To set up an archive drive, you can take any removable drive, format +it with a filesystem you'll be able to read some years later, and then follow +the [[walkthrough]] to set up a repository on it that is a git remote of +the repository in your computer you want to archive. In short: + + cd /media/archive + git clone ~/annex + cd ~/annex + git remote add archivedrive /media/archive/annex + git annex sync archive + +Don't forget to tell git-annex this is an archive drive (or perhaps a backup +drive). Also, give the drive a description that matches something you write on +its label, so you can find it later: + + git annex group archivedrive archive + git annex describe archivedrive "my first archive drive (SATA)" + +Or you can use the assistant to set up the drive for you. +(Nice video tutorial here: [[videos/git-annex_assistant_archiving]]) + +(Keeping the archive drive in an offsite location? Consider encrypting +it! See [[fully_encrypted_git_repositories_with_gcrypt].]) + +Then, when the archive drive is plugged in, you can easily copy files to +it: + + cd ~/annex + git-annex copy --auto --to archivedrive + +Or, if you're using the assistant, it will automatically notice when the drive +gets plugged in and copy files that need to be archived. + +When you want to get rid of the local file, leaving only the copy on the +archive, you can just: + + git annex drop file + +The archive drive has to be plugged in for this to work, so git-annex +can verify it still has the file. If you had configured git-annex to +always store 2 [[copies]], it will need 2 archive drives plugged in. +You may find it useful to configure a [[trust]] setting for the drive to +avoid needing to haul it out of storage to drop a file. + +Now the really nice thing. When your archive drive gets filled up, you +can simply remove it, store it somewhere safe, and replace it with a new +drive, which can be mounted at the same location for simplicity. Set up +the new drive the same way described above, and use it to archive even more +files. + +Finally, when you want to access one of the files you archived, you can +just ask for it: + + git annex get file + +If necessary git-annex will tell you which archive drive you need to +pull out of storage to get the file back. This is where the description +you entered earlier comes in handy. diff --git a/doc/use_case/Bob.mdwn b/doc/use_case/Bob.mdwn index 42d10ea97..7a90cdd11 100644 --- a/doc/use_case/Bob.mdwn +++ b/doc/use_case/Bob.mdwn @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ ### use case: The Archivist -Bob has many drives to archive his data, most of them kept offline, in a -safe place. +Bob has many drives to archive his data, most of them +[[kept offline|tips/offline_archive_drives]], in a safe place. With git-annex, Bob has a single directory tree that includes all his files, even if their content is being stored offline. He can |