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What's the best way to back stuff up in 2021?
I know SSDs are smaller/quicker/way more expensive but are they less likely to fail during intermittent use?
Background: I've just discovered that all three of the backup HDDs I've been keeping in a drawer appear to be dead. They're all probably 5-10 years old but have been used very sparingly as backups-to-the-backup. I don't think I've lost any data as yet but I'm getting nervous. I'm got quite a lot of saved video (~2Tb) but my own photos and video footage that are not replaceable amount to only 100Gb or so. These are only (now) on my day-to-day external 4TB drive (spinning platter) and I no longer have a backup of these so I want to fix that.
FWIW I'm on a Mac and using TimeMachine which works very well with an attached external drive, but IME not great over a network so I'm not very keen for NAS.
Options:
1) Buy another large external drive and manually duplicate my current backup drive. Clunky, will probably fail again.
2) Some sort of drive array for day-to-day storage with some sort of built-in redundancy (is RAID 1 still a thing?).
3) External SSD. This seems like an unnecessarily flashy option and I certainly don't need the speed but the cost is not crazy and if reliability is better then it might make sense.
4) Backup to the cloud? Currently I have my computer backed up via iCloud but would need a much more expensive storage plan to back everything up (media etc).
I use Backblaze for my long term online backup. It gets a good rep but I've never actually used it in anger so can't comment! It's about $60/year for unlimited space so much better for this purpose than iCloud etc or one of the other space-limited options. The great thing about this is you don't have to remember to do anything, it just happens constantly in the background.
Obviously multiple backups are good, especially as Time Machine on Mac is so convenient. I just use a big, cheap external HDD which is always connected. If it fails, so what, get another, still have the online backup as a failsafe. As long as you're actually using it regularly then you'll notice if it dies! If you're not actually using it then why have it!? I personally wouldn't bother with the expense/hassle of a RAID setup these days.
I've been wondering this recently too. I have about 2.5tb of photos and videos and need a good backup. Don't know why but cloud storage makes me nervous....
You've got 2.5tb of precious memories etc without any backup AT ALL? [I]That[/I] would make me nervous!!! Yeah there's a chance a cloud backup could be destroyed, it's still better than no backup though, and way less likely than something happening to your computer!!I’ve been wondering this recently too. I have about 2.5tb of photos and videos and need a good backup. Don’t know why but cloud storage makes me nervous….
backup to cloud as well as off site so 3 copies in all.
just use spinning drives for on and off site, do not buy the same brand and batch of HD’s so mix up seagate/WD/Toshiba etc.
i wouldn’t bother with NAS, i just use multiple drive enclosures made by caldigit and buy empty drive trays to fit new drives in and once the 2 working copies are full one goes in my folks safe.
i check the back blaze data on drive failures when choosing new drives.
storage is cheap, there is no excuse for having less than 3 back-ups.
i generate gigs worth of raws/processed tiffs/client finals every month and find chronosync good for backing up to multiple drives.
yeah I have an off-site backup too, I am not great at doing it though 🤣 Probably a few months out of date, better than nothing I suppose, maybe I'll remember to do it tomorrow!backup to cloud as well as off site so 3 copies in all.
One thing to consider with a cloud solution if you're on some form of ADSL Internet, your upload speed is likely a fraction of the download. If you're backing up 2TB of stuff your initial sync might take days if not weeks.
Cloud storage is almost certainly more reliable than a local disk - a good company should be backing up your backups - but a local disk is a lot more convenient. In an ideal world you probably want both.
I use both Cloud and HDD's for work stuff.
But I use 2 portable HDD's - one stays at work, one comes home and I swap them over everyday. I use Apple's Time Machine for full system backups and it's saved my arse on a couple of occassions.
I consider HDD's as my main back-up and Cloud as my back-up of back-ups and would never rely on cloud alone.
I’m on a Mac as well. All photos and music are on one external drive. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to back this up daily to a second external drive and weekly to a NAS.
Also use Backblaze to continually back up both external drives and the Mac drive to the cloud.
Backblaze is good as you can have multiple drives backed up.
Also have all photos stored on iCloud.
I’ve just gone through this, but on a Windows computer so probably won’t apply the same on a Mac.
I’ve got a NAS which constantly updates a backup, every night it backs itself up to a USB drive plugged in to the side of it.
My cloud “backup” is using OneDrive. I signed up to the family plan which means we both get a storage quota (2TB each I think). I moved all the Windows user file folders (documents, photos etc) in to the OneDrive folder. This means OneDrive has a mirror of everything on the computer, with the added benefit that it’s accessible from anywhere using my phone/iPad.
Not sure if it will play as nicely with a Mac but might be worth a look.
I used to use NAS / HDD but moved to OneDrive as part of our O/M365 subscription (£40 annually from Argos) which gives us 6 x 1TB storage plus of course up to date Office suite. Yeah I know it's not backup in the purest sense and ideally would form part of a 3-copy strategy but its peace-of-mind, and on the off-chance the principal location (SSD-equipped laptop) got ransomwared, there's version control and recovery functions too. Data is primarily photos, videos and the odd document.
Cloud for sure. I use Arq to dump my photos/videos to Amazon S3 in their archival storage plan which is a lot cheaper than the standard plan.
I dont see why Cloud storage could fail.
They are big boys, with big server farms in the business of keeing your data, and also a lot more, and more important datasets safe.
They will have backups of backups and if their drives fail they will just get replaced and you wont notice a blip in service at all?
Personally, i would consider Cloud storage infallible (to all intents and purposes), but you do have to put your hand in your pocket each month for the privilege's.
SSD is Physically very very stable. You can shoot it out of a cannon and it should be recoverable, however your data is stored as static charge, which just fades over time. 5 - 10 yrs they reckon?
I've got a WDCloud NAS which is crap as an interface but the drive seems ok. My phone backs up all my photos whenever i'm in range of wifi. I'm nervous about drive failures though. If a disk, or read arm, or motor conks out then its all for nought. It has a simple USB port on the back so i back it up manually to a basic HDD
There is a fairly easy setup process (by the looks of what ive read) on the newer WD NAS drives, whereby you can set your drive to backup to another drive off site. My Dad has one the same as mine, so i was thinking i might buy us both new, larger drives and then set them to mirror each other.
1) Buy another large external drive and manually duplicate my current backup drive. Clunky, will probably fail again.
This implies you dont have offsite backup? Even if I was going for the hd approach I would go for a minimum of two one of which is stored somewhere else and then swap them every now and again. It does mean one will be slightly out of date but if there is a fire or something it means I still have most of it. Obviously cloud approach deals with this and gets rid of the lag.
They are big boys, with big server farms in the business of keeping your data, and also a lot more, and more important datasets safe.
Depending which company there have been failures. Rare but they happen.
Personally I mix and match. Primary backup is local but with cloud as well.