backup setup now that I have another large drive

[rh71]

I bought a Seagate 3TB external HDD a few months back and filled almost 1TB of it already. I just bought another one to back that one up "just in case". I don't know anything about RAID other than it does concurrent backups so you don't have to manually copy from one drive to another to another.

Is there a way I can do this with my 2 drives? What are my options with them both being USB? Will it be even slower from my desktop's perspective writing to both simultaneously?

Initially I will also put the 1TB of data I already have onto the new drive. I suppose a straight up copy/paste is the best way?

 

[Cerb]

I bought a Seagate 3TB external HDD a few months back and filled almost 1TB of it already. I just bought another one to back that one up "just in case". I don't know anything about RAID other than it does concurrent backups so you don't have to manually copy from one drive to another to another.

RAID does not do backups (a RAID array may itself be used to store backup copies, but the use of RAID does not constitute a backup). RAID 1, 3, 4, 5, etc. write the data to all the drives, but this is not a backup. Backups are safe against deletion of the live data, and corruption of the live data at a time after the backup is made. RAID is only safe against an error reported by the disk(s) (failing disk or weak sector), and/or detected by the disk controller (cable or drive controller problem, usually, but sometimes PSU), and/or detected by the driver (disk controller problem, usually, but sometimes PSU or RAM). Such failures are everyday occurrences, once a business gets to a point of having hundreds of drives, so it's highly useful, but other failure modes are as common, if not more common, for most users.

Is there a way I can do this with my 2 drives? What are my options with them both being USB? Will it be even slower from my desktop's perspective writing to both simultaneously?

USB 2, or 3? If USB 3, they'll be fine. USB 2 caps out around 30MBps, typically, but only for big files. Small files can end up far slower. Writing to both simultaneously will not be a problem, though.

If you copy data to both of them, you now have 2 copies, which can be isolated form your main system. IE, backup.

 

[rh71]

It's USB 2 only for my setup. So the most efficient way I can do this anytime I want to add something is still copy & paste to both drives individually huh?

 

[Cerb]

It's USB 2 only for my setup. So the most efficient way I can do this anytime I want to add something is still copy & paste to both drives individually huh?

Not necessarily. If it's always the same directories, you could, for example, set up a job with Karen's Replicator, pretty easily (or other software, but KR has a low learning curve, and is good about warning when it fails). Same thing, just automated.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Windows OS? Create Synchronicity.

 

[Cerb]

Windows OS? Create Synchronicity.

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