Back-Up Solution...?!?

[rana_kirti]

Hi friends,

Recently learned the hard way that we all should back-up our data after a hdd failed on me. i was able to salvage most data but it has scared me and now i'm looking into having a excellent Back-Up solution. I'm really confused on this and after a bit of reading and researching i'm here to ask a few questions.

My situation and requirements.

1 Main PC
1 Laptop

I would like to..

A. Back up the HDD data in the Main PC
B. Back up the HDD data in the Laptop

That's pretty much all i need. Just to back up my data from my Main PC and my Laptop. I don't have multiple users trying to access data from a centralized HDD ( i guess that's what is NAS )

I'm really confused between the functionality and uses of a NAS vs. Hard Drive Array. Trust me i tried to read up on both but it just jumbled up my mind even more.

I'm in the process of upgrading my Main PC which is 4 yrs old. So i was thinking of going for these options..

1. Buy a Lian Li PC Q08. It has space for 1 2.5" HDD and 6 3.5" HDDs. If i install a long graphics card then it can hold 4 HDDs.

So i was planning to install a SSD for OS and then have 2 drives in RAID for Data and then the other 2 Drives in RAID for backing up from the Laptop.

2. Buy a smaller case like Sugo 05/06 and have a 1 2.5" HDD for OS and 1 3.5" HDD for Data + External Backup solution like a NAS or a Hard Drive Array.

Which option makes more sense for my needs ?

So could someone explain me in layman terms the difference between a NAS and a Hard Drive Array or guide me to link which has easy explaination of same ?

Regards & Merry Christmas...!

Rana.

 

[Zap]

"HDD array" just means several HDDs. It can be inside your computer, inside the NAS or in one box outside your computer (connected via USB or eSATA port multiplier).

HOW do you envision backing up the data? Do you want it to happen automagically in the background? Do you want images of your operating system too, so that you can do a 1 step recovery including Windows? Do you just want another drive letter to occasionally drag/drop your important stuff?

 

[rana_kirti]

thanks zap,

what i'm looking for is to be able to back up the Data from my Main PC and Laptop. I have C drive on both for Windows and D for Data. So i want to back-up the D drive ( Data ) of both.

drag/drop manually would be a bit rudimentary. I'm looking for something more sophisticated and modern. My idea is that the D drive is automatically backup at a certain time of the day/week which i can set or else i have a software where i set in all the details and i click on "Backup" and it does so for me.

Something like that. pardon me being a noob here but this is so totally not my area of expertise

 

[Ken g6]

Do these D drives hold the same data on both machines? (Or are they intended to anyway?) If so, rsync between them.

If not, is there space to hold each machine's D drive, perhaps compressed, on the other?

 

[rana_kirti]

well the D on the laptop is 1tb and D on main PC is 2tb. D on laptop has most of/similar data from D on main PC but at the same time D on laptop on has independent data.

D on main PC offcourse being 2 times the D on laptop has it's own independent Data. This is slightly confusing for me. I could say for sure i want to backup D on main PC.

Even though D on laptop has same/similar data as on D on main PC it still has it's own unique data so i guess i'm looking at D on both the laptop and main PC as being independent of each other.

I plan to add another 2 tb drive to the main PC. So i guess i'm looking to backup...

1 tb from laptop
4 tb from Main PC.