Best way to backup large amounts of data

[Stiganator]

Is the best way to just get a big hard drive and dump your pictures,video, music onto it and then put it in an antistatic bag in a fireproof box?

I've backed up to CD and DVD before, but it requires soo many disks and inevitably they get scratched,even if they are in jewel cases or those cd folders. Even if they aren't scratched, 2 in 10 will get cyclic redundancy errors.

A hard drive should last forever if it isn't powered up, right?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
Is the best way to just get a big hard drive and dump your pictures,video, music onto it and then put it in an antistatic bag in a fireproof box?

I've backed up to CD and DVD before, but it requires soo many disks and inevitably they get scratched,even if they are in jewel cases or those cd folders. Even if they aren't scratched, 2 in 10 will get cyclic redundancy errors.

A hard drive should last forever if it isn't powered up, right?

From what I understand, no, a hard drive will not last forever even if it is in storage. You might find this thread interesting.

If you want to preserve data, I (personally) think that the best way is to have it on several different mediums. You are going to always be adding to your pictures and media, so a fire and forget archive isn't ideal. For my critical data, it's RAIDed and backuped up 3 times in different places, one being off site, plus one backup of a backup.

 

[lopri]

Dual-layer Blu-Ray

 

[MerlinRML]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
Is the best way to just get a big hard drive and dump your pictures,video, music onto it and then put it in an antistatic bag in a fireproof box?

There's the ways that will work for you, and the ways that won't. Pick the ones that work. There's no perfect way to protect your data from everything.

I like the 2-backup method myself. Make a second storage area in an external disk, direct attached RAID, NAS, file server, etc. Use that as your online replica for quick recovery. Then semi-regularly, backup to an offline medium like tape, optical, or another hard disk that goes into protect storage or offsite.

Originally posted by: Stiganator
A hard drive should last forever if it isn't powered up, right?

Not quite true. Over time, the magnetics in a hard drive break down. Also, heads and motors tend to stick if they're not used once in a while.

 

[Stiganator]

How about a big compact flash disk? Sure it would take an ungodly amount of time to get on, but flash would last 100 yrs or so right?

 

[mattocs]

I would do it in multiple locations.

Me and my wifes personal files are on each of our computers, on a file server, and backed up onto an external hard drive. My movies, music, etc are on the file server and external hard drive. I don't want to lose my music and movies, but those can be downloaded again. My pictures, word docs, etc. cannot.

I tried the DVD thing...but it takes forever, and they get lost and scratched.

 

[dunkster]

Consider an HD switch, such as the Mitron Duplus or equivalent.

These devices allow selection between disks as A, B or A+B. When set to A, only the A drive is operational. When set to B, only the B drive is operational. When set to A+B, both drives are operational.

Set to A+B, copy all data to B, then turn off B. Data is then stored to an unpowered disk. Repeat as often as you like.

Or simply clone A to B, and then you have a complete replica of A, ready to plug in if your A drive fails.

If you wish to use an external storage drive, the Thermaltake BlacX Docking Station would be a good pick.

Google for reviews.

I'm considering one of these solutions for myself - probably the Thermaltake docking station.

Hope this helps!