Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:10:02 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

nico@xxxxxxxxxxx (Nico Coesel) hath wroth:

That depends on your setup. I have a spare PC and daily backups. If my
PC fails (which happened a few months ago) I fire up the spare PC and
pull the projects I need from the backups. It takes less than half an
hour to get up & running.

Maybe. Just one problem. It takes more than twice as much work to
keep two machines in sync. Between Windoze updates, application
updates, software license issues, and minor configuration differences,
the two machines are guaranteed to diverge. I own a fair number of
functional machines. Among those that I use regularly, there are 2
desktops, 1 server, 2 laptops, and a PDA phone. I synchronize the
address books, bookmarks, billing info, and several active projects
between most of these machines. It works for me because I actively
use all these machines at least once per day. If your backup machine
is sitting around collecting dust, while waiting for a PC failure,
methinks it will take more than a half hour to get it up to date and
usable.

If my HP dies, I can grab a spare, identical machine from the storage
cubicle, plug in a front-panel hot-plug RAID c: drive from the dead
machine, and be back up in minutes. Most of that time will be spent
under the table groveling with cables. If the OS dies and I can't
boot, I can plug in a c: image drive, stored in a baggie, and mount
the old c: as d: to get its files, or use my daily files-only d:
backup drive and get most of what I need.

Only the paranoid survive.

John

.

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