I just bought two 1 terabyte hard drives. What I'd like to do is have everything I do on one drive automatically done on the second drive. Basically, I want the second drive to be an insurance policy so that in case one of the drives goes bad, everything will still be on the other drive. Can anyone recommend software that does that?
Is there software that automatically backs up hard drive to second drive?
- Thread starter hackmole
- Start date
Phynaz
Lifer
- Mar 13, 2006
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Guys, RAID isn't backup, it's hardware fault tolerance.
OP, are you look for protection from hardware failure, or protection from user error and software failure.
RAID does the first, not the latter two.
If you want to protect for the latter two, along with the first, look for continuous data protection (CDP) software. It will backup modified files to the device of your choice. Make sure you get something that supports file versioning.
OP, are you look for protection from hardware failure, or protection from user error and software failure.
RAID does the first, not the latter two.
If you want to protect for the latter two, along with the first, look for continuous data protection (CDP) software. It will backup modified files to the device of your choice. Make sure you get something that supports file versioning.
Gooberlx2
Lifer
- May 4, 2001
- 15,381
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Right, OP wants something to protect from hardware failure.
RAID 1 does exactly this. However, Phynaz is correct that it's NOT backup. If you errantly delete something you shouldn't have, then you're SOL.
There are plenty of proper backup solutions however. I prefer Crashplan, but I've also used Cobian, synctoy, a custom robocopy script, etc, etc...
RAID 1 does exactly this. However, Phynaz is correct that it's NOT backup. If you errantly delete something you shouldn't have, then you're SOL.
There are plenty of proper backup solutions however. I prefer Crashplan, but I've also used Cobian, synctoy, a custom robocopy script, etc, etc...
gsaldivar
Diamond Member
- Apr 30, 2001
- 8,691
- 1
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Thank you,
There are quite a few choices Raid1, Cubian, Mirrorfolder and even XP backup. I'll have to try several of them or just commit to one for better or worse. Maybe software backup is better than Raid.
There are quite a few choices Raid1, Cubian, Mirrorfolder and even XP backup. I'll have to try several of them or just commit to one for better or worse. Maybe software backup is better than Raid.
gsaldivar
Diamond Member
- Apr 30, 2001
- 8,691
- 1
- 81
It depends on your exact needs.
RAID 1 (mirroring):
- easy, near-zero maintenance, set it and forget it
- low system overhead (lowest with hardware-RAID)
- requires backup drive to be available all the time
- mirroring is in realtime, no additional "backup" time required
- mirrors all data, including any errors and overwritten files
Software backup:
- requires scheduling, configuration
- high system overhead (schedule backups when computer not in use)
- backup drive can be made available only when backups are done
- mirrors data according to schedule, deleted files are still available on backup until overwritten
- backed up files can be "versioned" (files are retained for different periods of time. example: you discover a file overwritten with bad data but you are unsure when the file was changed -- in this case, backup versioning may allow you to recover a 1-day old copy, a 1-week old copy, or a 1-month old copy of that file...)
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sourceninja
Diamond Member
- Mar 8, 2005
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dac7nco
Senior member
- Jun 7, 2009
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I like "Karen's Replicator" http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp - I have a hard drive for recorded media/torrents (Music/Movies/TV/Recorded Video...etc), which @ 4am updates to a pair of RAID-6 volumes using Replicator. It's fast and moves my new stuff into archives. I keep the stuff I'm watching on the hard drive & erase it after - knowing it's archived to two identical arrays. I used to use it JBOD-style, which works almost as well. (I moved to RAID-6 have larger than 2TB storage pools.)
Daimon
Daimon
Chiefcrowe
Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2008
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You can try software such as Beyond Compare which basically compares two drives/directories. If there are any differences between the two it will show you what they are and should you tell it will do whatever needs to be done to make the second match the first. It's not as elegant as a fully automated method, but depending on how often your files get updated you can just do it as needed. Once a day, once a week, whatever. My favorite part is that since it operates at the file level there are no special compressed backup files that come with other types of backup software.
Chiefcrowe
Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2008
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thanks...that is a SICK machine, congratulations!
do you back up any data to a different machine/external drives or online?
do you back up any data to a different machine/external drives or online?
dac7nco
Senior member
- Jun 7, 2009
- 756
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- 0
I use Carbonite online backup, which is circa 50 bucks/year (U.S.). I use http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994023 for drive sleds in a Lian-Li PC-80, with a pair of Rev-B Megahalem CPU Coolers in Push-Pull.
The RAIDs are rarely spinning, except for backups or file transfers. I don't use the arrays as a home-server - ONLY for a dual-backup of 8TB of data/media. Each RAID-6 is 4xData & 2xParity, for 8TB each.
Daimon
The RAIDs are rarely spinning, except for backups or file transfers. I don't use the arrays as a home-server - ONLY for a dual-backup of 8TB of data/media. Each RAID-6 is 4xData & 2xParity, for 8TB each.
Daimon
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IHateMyJob2004
Lifer
- Sep 29, 2004
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Chiefcrowe
Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2008
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Gooberlx2
Lifer
- May 4, 2001
- 15,381
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Yeah, I'm curious too. I've recovered from both Mozy and Crashplan and they were both quite simple.
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