Best option for backing up personal data?

[elconejito]

The other reason why I usually recommend USB backups to people (who, as mentioned, don't normally backup *anything*) is because it is super-duper easy to just plug-in a USB drive. Mac or PC doesn't matter, old or new doesn't matter (except speed maybe). If they can't figure out the software then "just drag My Documents over there once a week" seems to work pretty well.

A 3 pronged approach is the best, I think....
1) Redundacize (I just made that word up) your "original" with RAID 1,5,6 to keep plugging along in case a drive dies
2) Keep a "nearby copy" on a external drive (USB/eSATA/Hotswapp) or local server on your network. In case #1 fails you can quickly and easily restore your data
3) Keep an "off-site" copy via online service, optical media/HDD(s)/fileserver at another physical location in case of *severe* disaster like fire/flood that would destroy #1 & #2 above.

But even though that is "best", any of the 3 is WAY BETTER than nothing.

 

[taltamir]

The other reason why I usually recommend USB backups to people (who, as mentioned, don't normally backup *anything*) is because it is super-duper easy to just plug-in a USB drive. Mac or PC doesn't matter, old or new doesn't matter (except speed maybe). If they can't figure out the software then "just drag My Documents over there once a week" seems to work pretty well.

The problem with "so easy you don't even need basic knowledge to do it" approach, is that by forgoing knowledge, the user is much more likely to mess things up. I have seen it happen often, they get a USB "backup" drive, and end up putting stuff on it AND NOT on the internal drive (aka, it is not redundant); usually because they cannot differentiate between a LINK and the actual file. with RAID1 you CANNOT have a non redundant copy.

 

[Emulex]

raid does not prevent from logical failure. worm. power loss. bad ram somewhere.

trust me i'm super anal these days. having raid-10 double disk failures, and raid-6 triple disk failures (thanks to sata friggen raid) happen on you makes you thank the lord for backups.

which are rotated

off site

many of them

then you have the a-holes who realized they effed up their storage 2 weeks ago and need it fixed.


you always separate your mainline storage(fast stuff) from your nearline storage (cheap sata) then separate by network (lan/wan) to your backup server which will use removable media (tape/cartridge sata/usb) and rotate these.

this applies to home, to work, to anywhere. the cost of storage is so cheap, if you do not do this eventually it will bite you in the arse.

think about car/house/rental/life insurance you pay for that right? but you never hope it has to be used EVER.

I prefer the cover my arse at all times.

be sure to use AES-256 or better encryption with large passwords on off-site data. keeps the prying non-goverment eyes out. NSA can crack aes-256 in a few minutes probably lol.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: taltamir
Although, I would use a mounting slot with hot pluggable SATA Drives instead of USB, due to the massive speed difference. (also a HDD tray is smaller and lighter and you don't need to carry a power transformer.

I stopped using USB backup drives for business purposes three years ago. All my new installations use hot-swap SATA trays. But external USB drives are simple to implement in a home environment.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: taltamir
I have seen it happen often, they get a USB "backup" drive, and end up putting stuff on it AND NOT on the internal drive

The most amazing example for me was when a small software development firm called me. They'd stored ALL their files on a WD external drive that used two drives in RAID 0 to get its large capacity. The array had failed and they wanted their data back.

 

[Emulex]

yeah it always amazes that people opt to not spend money on quality gear to get the job done right once.

i've got ancient proliant 100/1000 servers from the 90's still rocking out 4gb,9gb, and my favorite the 18gb quantum atlas scsi. only reason i'm decommissiong them is to consolidate power and well make use of vsphere


you always use your D2D system networked. Because when that TRAY or USB drive goes bad and it will eventually it will hang the entire system forcing a harsh shutdown or even possibly a power cycle depending on your patience.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Emulex
you always use your D2D system networked. Because when that TRAY or USB drive goes bad and it will eventually it will hang the entire system forcing a harsh shutdown or even possibly a power cycle depending on your patience.

I've seen a couple of servers taken down by network backups, but I've never seen a server taken down by a failing directly-attached USB or SATA backup drive. Sure, it's possible, but it's at the absolute bottom of my list of server reboot causes so far.

 

[taltamir]

raid does not prevent from logical failure. worm. power loss. bad ram somewhere.

It does when combined with ZFS