BACK UP YOUR DATA NOW

[Mеченый Яков]

Sorry for the all caps title. My friend just lost a terabyte of work to a drive failure. If you have anything important that needs saving, now is the time to make backups.

What are you using for your backup system?

Your friend has some serious skill issues, i just back up my shit in multiple clouds and sites, tbh as a graphic designer only my art is important for a portfolio.

 

[Ross_Я]

multiple clouds and sites

That barely even counts as a proper backup in my eyes.
No internet - boom, your files gone.

 

[Mеченый Яков]

That barely even counts as a proper backup in my eyes.
No internet - boom, your files gone.

Like i care.

 

[№56]

A bit too vague. What kind of a server? What exactly are you having troubles with?

A media server, probably. A place to store movies, images, music, etc. I kept the question deliberately vague because I don't want to commit myself to any one thing at this point.

 

[Ross_Я]

A media server, probably. A place to store movies, images, music, etc. I kept the question deliberately vague because I don't want to commit myself to any one thing at this point.

Well, if you want just a place to store files, all you need is a bunch of HDDs, really. Usual motherboard can take about, what, 6 SATA connections? Meaning you can easily build up to 84 TB of data without any special equipment if you'll just go for 14 TB HDDs.
Then you can buy SATA controllers. Like, this thing alone will give you 8 additional SATA slots: https://aliexpress.ru/item/1005004407982733.html?sku_id=12000029072980790
That's pretty much it for file storage server. It really only worth to run a server though if you want your files to be constantly online and share. Which is, honestly, a good thing, and is something I want to do one day, but just for storage having a USB hub and a bunch of external HDDs that you will disconnect and store once they are full is more than enough, IMO.

And, well, for any kind of storage it is useful to constantly monitor your discs' condition. Software like Hard Disk Sentinel or CrystalDiskInfo does just fine.

 

[Jellyfish Conan]

I chose the lazy approach and just got a Backblaze subscription.

Reminder to also check whether your backup system works. I found out a while back that I neither remembered my encryption password, nor had it saved anywhere (or at least, nowhere where I could find it). Thankfully, I found this out before I actually needed to restore something, but it was an important reminder that backups are useless if you can't actually restore them.

 

[Venomnik0]

Sorry for the all caps title. My friend just lost a terabyte of work to a drive failure. If you have anything important that needs saving, now is the time to make backups.

What are you using for your backup system?

I know this is a little off but what if those backup hard drives also fail? What now?

 

[LostintheCycle]

I know this is a little off but what if those backup hard drives also fail? What now?

This is why I want a RAID system, if it's set up right you can survive a total drive failure, stick a new one in and rebuild the system and you're good to go. There is the chance that more than one drive fails at once though, and of course this won't protect against something like a flood. If that were to happen, you'd have a lot more on your plate to sort out than your file collection.
Cloud comes to mind, but I consider that a no-go. If you did have a buddy who also collects files though, you could host backups for one another and do transfers over the Internet.
With backups, all you can do is make it less likely you'll lose your data.

 

[Lamp Fool]

I know this is a little off but what if those backup hard drives also fail? What now?

In photography class I was told the gold standard for backups are two digital backups and one analog backup, all 3 in different locations. This way, neither a fire, nor a power surge, nor even an EMP can destroy your stuff.

 

[Venomnik0]

This is why I want a RAID system, if it's set up right you can survive a total drive failure, stick a new one in and rebuild the system and you're good to go. There is the chance that more than one drive fails at once though, and of course this won't protect against something like a flood. If that were to happen, you'd have a lot more on your plate to sort out than your file collection.
Cloud comes to mind, but I consider that a no-go. If you did have a buddy who also collects files though, you could host backups for one another and do transfers over the Internet.
With backups, all you can do is make it less likely you'll lose your data.

In photography class I was told the gold standard for backups are two digital backups and one analog backup, all 3 in different locations. This way, neither a fire, nor a power surge, nor even an EMP can destroy your stuff.

RAID vs. Analog & Digital method

(or both)

 

[Ross_Я]

I know this is a little off but what if those backup hard drives also fail? What now?

Thing is, what LostInTheCycle said - it is never completely bulletproof. You can just minimize the chances.
I feel like my system is good enough for me.

 

[Pangolin]

That barely even counts as a proper backup in my eyes.
No internet - boom, your files gone.

Google drive recently lost a bunch of files and nobody at Google cared since they tried their best but lost data is lost. They did get some back but in my eyes one data loss permanently taints your image.

The cloud is not a backup!

The only thing I consider to be quality long term storage is well preserved blu Ray. Multiple copies of different brands in different locations. Maybe three in a bank vault.

 

[Pangolin]

Tape -> weak to water and expensive machines are required for writing.
Drives -> mechanical failure, silent demagnetizing
SSD -> silent failure, silent electrical leaks
Flash -> silent fail

Optical is clearly better. So long as you don't scratch the disc. And that the light doesn't cause degradation of the internal layers. It used to be that on some disks the oxygen would eat the internal aluminum layer or the dyes but that's a solved problem.

 

[nsequeira119]

I store all my media on some 2 TB external thumb drives. My cheap HP desktop doesn't have nearly enough internal storage to handle all the hour-long videos I create. I plan on making copies eventually, but they are pretty new hard drives so they should be fine for now. I don't trust cloud based or Internet stuff, it's a long way off from being reliable- for instance, I uploaded the trailer for my first movie, "Viyce," onto YouTube back in 2018 before I had any storage capacity, and they deleted it before I could back it up, rendering it technically lost media.

Recently I've started transferring all my videos and songs I really like onto VHS tape and compact cassette. I hope eventually to get at least 50% of my audiovisual content onto a cassette medium, because in the arid Denver climate tapes tend to last for centuries, and they'll carry my message onwards to future generations better than the Internet ever could.

 

[Chuffed]

Setting up VHD and Storage Spaces (on Windows 10 at the moment) right now with a pair of 8TB hard drives. The security holes in off the shelf NAS options the past couple of years scared me off, I'd rather keep it local. I'm not setting up a server either (same concerns, don't want outside access).

 

[Chuffed]

Your friend has some serious skill issues, i just back up my shit in multiple clouds and sites, tbh as a graphic designer only my art is important for a portfolio.

Same thoughts, I have a bud that stores EVERYTHING on an external USB HDD drive from like 7 or 8 years ago... I gave up dropping hints that new SSDs are only $40+ (or at least turn on OneDrive).

 

[Punp]

I've bought some CDs to save my work onto but it's a case of getting round to it. You know how it is - you're basically guaranteed to lose stuff before you get around to backing it up.

Also working on hand binding some of my work as phyiscal books. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Ross_Я]

Tape -> weak to water and expensive machines are required for writing.
Drives -> mechanical failure, silent demagnetizing

Doubt. Like, optical is subject to silent failure as well. It is nearly impossible to keep it completely scratch-less, and it can go rotting. Or can be damaged due to UV exposure.
I'd say drives are better. If you are running them constantly (like, in a server, sharing files), then demagnetizing is not a problem, since you main issue would be start/stop of the heads. And if you running archive drives like I do, then mechanical failure is barely a problem - rather demagnetizing is (that's why I re-write them every five years).
Overall, I prefer HDDs to anything else, though tape is good to. Weak to water? So is any electrical device listed, including optical drives. Water in general is quite nasty. But yea, good tapes and hardware for them is very expensive.

In the end of the day though, once again, nothing is bulletproof. And the choice is yours.

Also, of note: flash drives in my eyes are next in unreliability to clouds. The main problem with flashes: if it is damaged - then it's gone. Done. Null. Zero. All you can ever hope to recover from it is some silicon.

Same thoughts, I have a bud that stores EVERYTHING on an external USB HDD drive from like 7 or 8 years ago... I gave up dropping hints that new SSDs are only $40+ (or at least turn on OneDrive).

Why would he even want to change that? Some of my archive drives are 7 or 8 years. Maybe even more.
If SMART shows 100%, then why in the name of the Lord would you even think about wasting money switching a perfectly fine drive for a new one?
As saying goes: if it ain't broke - don't fix it.

 

[Pangolin]

Doubt. Like, optical is subject to silent failure as well. It is nearly impossible to keep it completely scratch-less, and it can go rotting. Or can be damaged due to UV exposure.
I'd say drives are better. If you are running them constantly (like, in a server, sharing files), then demagnetizing is not a problem, since you main issue would be start/stop of the heads. And if you running archive drives like I do, then mechanical failure is barely a problem - rather demagnetizing is (that's why I re-write them every five years).
Overall, I prefer HDDs to anything else, though tape is good to. Weak to water? So is any electrical device listed, including optical drives. Water in general is quite nasty. But yea, good tapes and hardware for them is very expensive.

In the end of the day though, once again, nothing is bulletproof. And the choice is yours.

Also, of note: flash drives in my eyes are next in unreliability to clouds. The main problem with flashes: if it is damaged - then it's gone. Done. Null. Zero. All you can ever hope to recover from it is some silicon.


Why would he even want to change that? Some of my archive drives are 7 or 8 years. Maybe even more.
If SMART shows 100%, then why in the name of the Lord would you even think about wasting money switching a perfectly fine drive for a new one?
As saying goes: if it ain't broke - don't fix it.

I can dunk an optical disk in water all day long. Dry it off with a towel and it will read perfectly. The only real hazard to optical is UV exposure, but that is mitigated by protecting it from UV. Only using indoors, away from the sun.

HDDs if in contact with water are permanently ruined.
HDDs are moving constantly and as anything mechanical it will become ruined from an internal failure.

BluRay cannot be damaged from internal failure as it has no moving parts and is spun in a controlled and safe environment. Furthermore, unlike the HDD it doesn't have an opportunity to get damaged because the head of the reader rests several millimeters away from the media.

Lastly, HDD technology is already obsolete.

BluRay can rest without power for literal decades and return to active service rapidly, but HDDs require to be powered up and spinning introducing wear on the components. And readers are cheap and plentiful.

Edit:
I would say the major problem with BluRay is that it cant be changed afterwards except in special disks but those are not good for anything resembling archival storage. And the disks are vulnerable to silent data rot because they carry silent error correcting algorithms so by the time your data cant be read it truly cant be corrected for.
I think a system that mixes BluRay, HDD, and Tape would be optimal.

 

[LostintheCycle]

Came across a whole box of mini-discs in the garage, small 80 MB optical discs contained in a plastic shell. Thoughts on this medium?