Suggestions on Backup Regimen [No Raid]

[PrinceXizor]

After doing a bit of reading I've come to the conclusion that using RAID in my storage/backup solution could cause more problems than it solves. Since I would need backups in addition to my RAID array its just extra drives I can't afford (anyone who comments on how cheap storage is right now is free to pay for all of my HDD's).

Besides the fact that I don't have a large audio or video collection and little intention of creating one means I don't need a lot of storage anyhow.

I don't forsee having any offsite storage aside from the cloud though I may throw something in another location if the mood strikes me and it makes sense.

How does a 3 stage backup system sound?

SSD drive with two partitions. One for OS. One for everything else. By way of reference, my old HD was 80GB and worked just fine. My newer laptop HD has ~44GB used for everything on it. The SSD I bought is 250GB. I presume a 50GB/250GB split would work fine?
1st HD as a daily sync backup. Incremental...whatever its technically called. This HD would also have an image of the OS partition. This HD would be large enough to sync my laptop to regularly.
2nd HD as a periodic backup/copy of the 1st HD. This HD would also have an image of the OS partition.

Any comments? It would also be nice to get the OS image onto a 32GB flash stick as well.

Am I missing anything?

P-X

 

[san.salvador]

A few ideas.

If your OS is going to be Win7/8 x64 I would strongly recommend giving it at least 64GB. Less is possible, but it's good if you don't have to think a about space all the time.

2nd Stage HDD should not be inside the case but a external drive, kept away from your PC. 1st should be fine internal.

I wouldn't make the 2nd backup from the 1st stage but from the SSD directly. IMHO it's always better to take the originals than a copy.
I don't backup my OS since all the nice stuff is kept outside from C:, but if you have enough space - why not. I learned setting up a fresh and ready Windows by do it a million times.

In case you use Windows: Almost everything here can be done via Microsofts Synctoy. It's free, it's simple and it's very light. Your setup is pretty close to mine and I use it too.

 

[cantholdanymore]

Why not have a single ssd partition and backup the whole drive image? That's what I do. My ssd has the OS and all my software. I also have a extra 2t hdd for data that I backup separately.
I have schedule the ssd backup everyday to an internal drive that i move to an external every so often. The data backup goes to two external drives.