Best way to back up data?

[Andrew1990]

I was just wondering how all of you guys backup your data? I have about 500GB or so of video data split onto 2 different hard disk. I dont want to take a chance of loosing it so what is the best course of action?

DVDs could work but there would be a whole lot of them(Over 100)

I got an old Dat24 SCSI Tape Drive that might still work(Are these decent and protecting data?)

Get another hard drive and hope for the best?




Bluray is out of the question due to prices of media. I dont really want to spend much so older technology is fine by me.

Speed is also not an issue, as long as it is somewhat reasonable for this amount of data.

 

[RebateMonger]

The DDS3 tapes in a DATA24 tape drive hold from 12 to 24 GB of data. Do you have enough tapes and the patience to swap them?

Today, the best "deals" are 1 Terabyte External hard drives. There are many backup programs, including those included in XP and Vista. I recommend keeping the backup drive detached from your PC when you don't need it attached.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Get a couple of external 1Tb drives, and rotate your backups among the drives. Leave them unplugged when not actively backing-up your data.

If you really want to be safe, keep one off-site at another safe location.

 

[Eureka]

A 1TB internal drive costs around $70-80 now.

I have multiple computers, so each computer has a copy of my important files, and I make sure to sync them every so often.

 

[pjkenned]

Agree with all of the above, backing up via mechanical hard drives is a cheap proposition. External may be a best bet, however, if you are not worried about something happening to the physical PC (i.e. stolen, hit by moving vehicle, and etc) having an internal drive is probably fine. Going the really exciting mode, if you wanted an internal drive that you could unplug, you could get a hotswap bay with a removable hard drive tray and store the back-up drive in a fireproof safe when not in use.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Any functional solution but a Drobo.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: pjkenned
Agree with all of the above, backing up via mechanical hard drives is a cheap proposition. External may be a best bet, however, if you are not worried about something happening to the physical PC (i.e. stolen, hit by moving vehicle, and etc) having an internal drive is probably fine. Going the really exciting mode, if you wanted an internal drive that you could unplug, you could get a hotswap bay with a removable hard drive tray and store the back-up drive in a fireproof safe when not in use.

How often do you have your SAN hit by a moving vehicle??

And you can always take out the internal hard drive after you're done.. if it's purely for backup you don't even need to screw it in, place it on a stable chair or something and plug it into the computer.

 

[Andrew1990]

Hmm, seems like the 1TB solution wins. Time to start shopping.

Thanks

 

[StinkyPinky]

Yeah I just have a 640gb external drive I use for backup. I unplug it from the mains when it's not in use. (to protect from surges)

 

[heymrdj]

I don't even like messing with external enclosures anymore, like the above poster said, external hot swap SATA bay + 1TB HD + SyncToy = Profit.