Question RAID 1 ext usb

[rsutoratosu]

Looking for cheaper raid 1/mirror usb for backups. I do have some single usb but had failures that maybe i should get one that can mirror. Dont mind paying for second drive but looking for lower cost solution. Any suggestions

ie

https://www.amazon.com/TerraMaster-External-Enclosure-Storage-Diskless/dp/B01MRSRQLA

 

[Tech Junky]

That's about as cheap as they come for price. Yottamaster also makes some enclosures that will mirror. This sort of setup is a DAS/Raid enclosure. The cheapest way though might be 2 enclosures and do raid in the PC with software. Two 3.5 enclosures might be $30/ea.

 

[rsutoratosu]

I have a bunch of single usb.. what software can just duplicate as I write to it.. I used to just backup to one and do a drive clone.. want to save some time..

 

[Tech Junky]

Well, if you use Linux you can use rsync + cron job to fire it every X minutes / hours

for windows you could probably just use storage spaces built into the OS.

How to Use Windows 10’s Storage Spaces to Mirror and Combine Drives

The Storage Spaces feature built into Windows allows you to combine multiple hard drives into a single virtual drive. It can mirror data across multiple drives for redundancy, or combine multiple physical drives into a single pool of storage. Storage Spaces is similar to RAID or LVM on Linux.

www.howtogeek.com

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[mindless1]

If these are the ONLY two copies of the data, personally I would prefer to have one be offline storage, that syncs when you put it online to do so. This removes potential risks from power surges, malware, the host NAS/enclosure fault affecting both volumes, and may prolong lifespan from not powering the 2nd drive as much.

If you need realtime access where productivity/profit suffers from access downtime, then i'd do both, an online mirror and an offline backup. Just suggesting that for lowest cost, your best bet may just be using two plain old USB external HDDs, leaving one offline and sync'ing with the other, after enough data has changed to make it worthwhile on that interval.

In windows, apps like RealtimeSync + FreeFileSync (freeware) can do that.

FreeFileSync

Download FreeFileSync 13.5. FreeFileSync is a free open source data backup software that helps you synchronize files and folders on Windows, Linux and macOS.

freefilesync.org

 

[rsutoratosu]

Yes, true offline as in I would plug in and do a quick robocopy. Ill check the apps recommended. Thanks..