snapshot of my system

Life with 2TB of data can get bad at times, especially when it rolls around time to do a scan.

snapshot of my system

(df shows disk free space, snapshot taken as of 5/18/2011)
C:\prj\df\df-3.2\win>32\df c e -a
       C:------------------**********************   1.13TB/   2.00TB (56.64%)
       E:------------------**********************   1.10TB/   2.00TB (55.23%)
     TOT:------------------**********************   2.23TB/   4.00TB (55.93%)
TOT USED:-----------------------*****************   1.76TB/   4.00TB (44.07%)

C:\prj\df\df-3.2\win>

antivirus packages

sometimes with windows it's an auto forced reboot right in the middle of work (depending on the program and your windows update settings if it is set to auto). current antivirus software has been written to repeat weekly (unfortunately). windows sometimes gets a request from the antivirus or windows update to reboot the machine after an auto-update.

In fact, If you have even 1.5TB-1.7TB of data, antivirus programs will do its weekly scan restart - and break your current scan, thus leaving you with an incomplete job and the message "your computer is at risk". there might just be a fix to mcafee (it may be one of the few packages out there which have solved the problem - thanks whoever put the bug report in!), I will have to test one of these days and see. so there may be hope. it isn't automatically scanning. but like I said, updates can sometimes break the process of scanning.

24/7 for over 2 weeks

for any scan, it means leaving your pc 24/7 it depends upon your OS. linux can handle the beating much longer than a windows system can (but not forever without a reboot). windows sometimes gets a request from the antivirus or windows update to reboot the machine after an auto-update. Since I have 2x2TB, it takes a total of 2x9=18 days or more for a scan to complete. and I have LOTS of little bitty files.

chkdsk /f

chkdsk /f now takes about an hour. chkdsk /f /r, well, leave it on for 2 days. actually I have 2x2TB drives and I do both because both need it and I have it down to a process. one of the drives is a little on the flaky side so I use it for backup purposes. I don't want to waste my money.

when to shutdown

it's usually a good idea with windows machines to shut them down after a week. you might be able to run them longer if you are doing an antivirus scan of a full 2TB hard drive, MAYBE - but the antivirus update might kick in and cancel/restart the process is usually my experience.

backups

Backups could be done with tape, but that is very expensive. it is fastest and best to mount a drive internally once in a while and back up your machine that way. If the drive is permanently mounted, the backup drive will last exactly as long as your source drive - about 5 years. it's a choice of convenience. hard drives are much cheaper. usb 2.0 is incredibly slower. we will have to see about usb 3.0. eSata is I am told very slow. This is why I said to mount the drive internally. even a removable drive cage would be an idea (but make sure you don't remove the drive while it's on).