Help Understanding Redundancy Solutions (Pros & Cons)

[krill]

I have officially entered "analysis paralysis" and I could use some help digging out of this mess. I'm looking to get local redundancy (2 identical drives) of all my personal files locally. This is probably going to amount to ~750GB of multimedia, and ~10GB of personal files. I'm probably looking at picking up 2 x 2TB drives, which seem to be running about $90 each on sale, now-days. I want to preface this by saying: I understand what I am looking for is not a true backup, even though I use that word. I just want additional redundancy for this data, and it must be local (e.g. not buying services for an internet-based cloud storage provider).

I'm stuck between 3 options, and I don't really know what to go for at this point. I don't really see any reasons I couldn't use any of them, and I am having a really hard time figuring which option is best in my situation. I am price conscious, but willing to spend what is necessary. I really don't feel like I need one of those $500+ NAS solutions for what I want, though.

My 3 "must haves" are:

• must have some sort of way to be notified when one drive has failed (either hardware or software), so I can replace it;
• must be able to set up an automated backup;
• if always on, must be fairly quiet (like an option to hibernate when not in use, but wakeup to complete the automated backup)

My 3 "nice-to-haves" are:

• when 1 drive fails, ability to easily replicate the surviving drive to the newly added drive;
• encryption (preferably something like TrueCrypt) to protect vs. both network-based snooping and someone physically stealing the unit;
• ability to automatically backup data from more than one system, at least occasionally (rarely-used laptops, etc.)

The first option I've been considering is a ready-made NAS device, where I buy my own drives. After researching, this one seems quite good http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS213j - at $200 (amazon). It comes with its own backup scheduling software, and has a utility for limited (though not perfect) encryption capabilities. Product specs seem to indicate it is fairly quiet. It would be able to easily take care of occasional backups of secondary systems, as well, over the network. I think the only way this system notifies you of a drive failure is via a hardware light on the enclosure itself, which is OK, as long as you remember to check those lights on a semi-regular basis - which is questionable, but not completely bad (I'd prefer some kind of system message). I'd use RAID1 with this. One of my concerns would be a RAID controller failure: at that point the entire thing is dead an unrecoverable, though, correct?

The second option I've been thinking of, that should get around the controller failure issue and is also cheaper, is something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182280 - at only $40 (newegg). I am not 100% sure, but I think I can just put two drives into this and schedule backups via Win7 Home Premium's stock "Backup and Restore" - can I just automate the schedule to backup once to the first drive, and then a second time to the second drive? This would effectively give me my two drives with mirrored backup data, but they would not be in RAID1, so there is no controller to fail. I'm not sure if Windows7 Backup and Restore displays a notification if the scheduled drive for the transfers dies/is dead. I also not sure if I could somehow encrypt the drives / data when doing this method. This also seems like it would take extra work to backup the occasional secondary system, but all it would really take would be moving the data cables to a different system to do the backup.

The third option I was considering was using some of the old computer components I have to build my own NAS server from scratch using something like FreeNAS. I am not sure I really have the time to learn all I need to and be able to set everything up in short order, however. It seems like it would have the most flexibility (able to do anything on the list, with enough work), but also be time intensive to learn and set up everything compared to buying one of the above solutions and just scheduling the backups via the appropriate software. I'd really rather just spend the $40 or $200 to make sure it is a good, properly configured solution rather than spending hours reading and pulling out my hair trying to work out any issues. However, if the above two solutions are sub-par for what I want to do, then that definitely might force me to this third option. I know I should be able to get everything I want with this option, but honestly I am willing to trade some of those things for a few fewer hours of possible frustration right at this moment in time.

Any thoughts on the best solution for my purposes would be greatly appreciated. I have been stuck in this "reading / learning" loop for far too long, and really need to do something. I just can't seem to make up my mind with what I've been seeing so far, and would like to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Thank you!

 

[Old Hippie]

but I think I can just put two drives into this and schedule backups via Win7 Home Premium's stock "Backup and Restore" - can I just automate the schedule to backup once to the first drive, and then a second time to the second drive?

This MS link should answer all your questions about that.

Synology uses proprietary software which can create major headaches in case of any failure.

Any encryption can be a major roadblock to data recovery.

You're third option is by far the best.

Good Luck!

 

[smitbret]

I have officially entered "analysis paralysis" and I could use some help digging out of this mess. I'm looking to get local redundancy (2 identical drives) of all my personal files locally. This is probably going to amount to ~750GB of multimedia, and ~10GB of personal files. I'm probably looking at picking up 2 x 2TB drives, which seem to be running about $90 each on sale, now-days. I want to preface this by saying: I understand what I am looking for is not a true backup, even though I use that word. I just want additional redundancy for this data, and it must be local (e.g. not buying services for an internet-based cloud storage provider).

I'm stuck between 3 options, and I don't really know what to go for at this point. I don't really see any reasons I couldn't use any of them, and I am having a really hard time figuring which option is best in my situation. I am price conscious, but willing to spend what is necessary. I really don't feel like I need one of those $500+ NAS solutions for what I want, though.

My 3 "must haves" are:

• must have some sort of way to be notified when one drive has failed (either hardware or software), so I can replace it;
• must be able to set up an automated backup;
• if always on, must be fairly quiet (like an option to hibernate when not in use, but wakeup to complete the automated backup)

My 3 "nice-to-haves" are:

• when 1 drive fails, ability to easily replicate the surviving drive to the newly added drive;
• encryption (preferably something like TrueCrypt) to protect vs. both network-based snooping and someone physically stealing the unit;
• ability to automatically backup data from more than one system, at least occasionally (rarely-used laptops, etc.)

The first option I've been considering is a ready-made NAS device, where I buy my own drives. After researching, this one seems quite good http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS213j - at $200 (amazon). It comes with its own backup scheduling software, and has a utility for limited (though not perfect) encryption capabilities. Product specs seem to indicate it is fairly quiet. It would be able to easily take care of occasional backups of secondary systems, as well, over the network. I think the only way this system notifies you of a drive failure is via a hardware light on the enclosure itself, which is OK, as long as you remember to check those lights on a semi-regular basis - which is questionable, but not completely bad (I'd prefer some kind of system message). I'd use RAID1 with this. One of my concerns would be a RAID controller failure: at that point the entire thing is dead an unrecoverable, though, correct?

The second option I've been thinking of, that should get around the controller failure issue and is also cheaper, is something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182280 - at only $40 (newegg). I am not 100% sure, but I think I can just put two drives into this and schedule backups via Win7 Home Premium's stock "Backup and Restore" - can I just automate the schedule to backup once to the first drive, and then a second time to the second drive? This would effectively give me my two drives with mirrored backup data, but they would not be in RAID1, so there is no controller to fail. I'm not sure if Windows7 Backup and Restore displays a notification if the scheduled drive for the transfers dies/is dead. I also not sure if I could somehow encrypt the drives / data when doing this method. This also seems like it would take extra work to backup the occasional secondary system, but all it would really take would be moving the data cables to a different system to do the backup.

The third option I was considering was using some of the old computer components I have to build my own NAS server from scratch using something like FreeNAS. I am not sure I really have the time to learn all I need to and be able to set everything up in short order, however. It seems like it would have the most flexibility (able to do anything on the list, with enough work), but also be time intensive to learn and set up everything compared to buying one of the above solutions and just scheduling the backups via the appropriate software. I'd really rather just spend the $40 or $200 to make sure it is a good, properly configured solution rather than spending hours reading and pulling out my hair trying to work out any issues. However, if the above two solutions are sub-par for what I want to do, then that definitely might force me to this third option. I know I should be able to get everything I want with this option, but honestly I am willing to trade some of those things for a few fewer hours of possible frustration right at this moment in time.

Any thoughts on the best solution for my purposes would be greatly appreciated. I have been stuck in this "reading / learning" loop for far too long, and really need to do something. I just can't seem to make up my mind with what I've been seeing so far, and would like to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Thank you!

You are really not asking for much in the way of complication.

I would just get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108139

Add a couple of drives.

It will do everything you would like out of the box and the learning curve won't be too steep.

Otherwise, just build a Windows Home Server 2011 box out of old PC parts and run your drives in RAID 1.

Either solution should suit you just fine.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You are really not asking for much in the way of complication.

I would just get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108139

Add a couple of drives.

It will do everything you would like out of the box and the learning curve won't be too steep.

Otherwise, just build a Windows Home Server 2011 box out of old PC parts and run your drives in RAID 1.

Either solution should suit you just fine.

That's good advice, and doesn't bias the choices according to whatever orientation you might have. If he doesn't have a spare (old) computer, the expense of the NAS device is reasonable. And if he does, really -- the learning curve for WHS 2011 might involve a couple hours reading on a WHS "how to" site.

I've been lazy about cloning and backups. I don't "do" RAID1, which would be a decent solution for a standalone PC or someone just testing the home-network waters. I just periodically choose to clone the system drive.

The personal and other data is stored on a WHS box -- redundant across some three drives. But the advantage of WHS is that it daily does incremental backups from the system disks of all workstations in the house. ONe only needs some 4 to 8GB USB flash drives -- one created for each machine -- to restore the WHS backup to a new disk on a particular workstation.

So I guess I can afford to be lazy. . . . . I hope, that is . . .

 

[krill]

thank you so much for the replies. I am going to try to track down a few lingering questions and then just jump into something, as I've been putting off adding this redundancy for far too long (years, at this point) without making a decision.

Yes! That is the same DS213j drive I linked to (except to the manufacturer's site).

I do have a lot of spare systems (and components) laying around, which I'd like to put to some use. But the added overhead of learning and setting things up is going to possibly push this "project" down the road another few months, compared to one of the plug-and-play options. At this point, getting this basic functionality crossed off the checklist is more important to me than learning a few cool new things, although eventually I'd like to get there.

I realize encryption would add an extra hurdle in doing recovery, but as long as I remember / have the key (which I'd store off-site just in case), I don't think it would be too cumbersome. As I don't really have plans to make this accessible beyond my primary, and sometimes secondary systems, I'm not really worried about exposure to network attacks. My main concern is someone literally breaking in and stealing it with a bunch of other electronics, booting it up, and having access to all my personal files. That's what I am really trying to avoid with the encryption.