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cheap terabyte storage solution

jgold03

Junior Member
I have a friend that has a growing digital media business. He needs a *redundant* storage device that can hold 1 TB+ and serve files but only on a fairly low volume basis. The main issue is that he is strapped for capital right now, so going all out on an enterprise solution is not an option. I emphasized redundant because he previously had a custom-built NAS (running XP, blegh) until the RAID driver failed, and after going through the painful process of recovering, redundancy is very important.

Any thoughts or recommendations?
 
No matter what storage solution your friend chooses, he'll need a secondary backup system. As your friend found earlier, you can't trust important files to a single storage point. Drives fail, tapes fail, and RAID arrays fail, not to mention theft, fire, flood, and accidental and intentional deletion and overwrites.

There are many "semi-portable" USB, Firewire, and NAS arrays of 1TB and larger that can be used for either online or backup purposes. So, add 1TB of online storage, and then pick another (1TB) backup system that can be kept offline and safely away from the main system.
 
I've seen that a RAID array that is periodically backed up to another medium is a solid way of keeping data safe.
 
*Raid 0 that would be.

But the risks or "acts of God" are always present. Like your hard drives being stolen, failing, fire, accidental formatting, etc.
 
Go to garage sale and pickup an old packard bell or watchamacallit. Grab 2-3 400gb Seagate HD's from outpost for $109 each and a cheap PCI IDE adapter if you need one. Get an old flashdrive and a copy of FreeNAS(www.freenas.org).

Install Nas on flashdrive and boot. Configure drives with software and booyah, cheap NAS.
 
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