This is a PSMA!
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What's a good medium to back up to, assuming I don't want to pay for a RAID setup?
You can set up a pretty robust backup system for pretty cheap if you already have the drives, and the knowledge to set it up yourself. I have two always on devices, an NAS that is my central location for important files, which syncs to a backup device with two hard drives that are synced at different intervals. If a drive fails, it gets replaced, and I haven't lost the core of my backups, I might lose some incremental backups, but it's more important to me that I have 3 copies available on different drives. 2 are in one location, the third in a separate location and my syncs are each an interation behind, so if there's a huge screw up, it'll take three sync cycles before the main copies are lost (not including the incremental backups I also keep).
This setup allows you to replace drives as they fail so you can constantly update with technologies and don't need to worry about what's the best medium.
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NAS stands for "Network Attached Storage", basically a computer whose sole purpose is storing and serving files in your home.
RAID stands for "Reduntant Array of Inexpensive Disks", and is broadly a way to merge multiple disks into one.
RAID 0 means that files are evenly distributed on all disks, which improves IO speed and extends a file system (≈ a partition) 's capacity, but it's useless against disk failure;
RAID 1(mirroring) means that all disks have the same data as a sort of real-time backup, and as long as one disk remains functional, all the other disks can fail without the data becoming inaccessible;
other RAID levels use clever math to offer a mix of the first two, spreading files among disks (like RAID 0) but still tolerating failures of a small number of disks (like RAID 1 but way less redundant).Wikipedia has a less abridged explaination on its RAID page.
Ahh , I see , i still have no clue
. But at least the acronyms are kind of giving me an idea. Thanks !So these are not like a physical 1 terabyte external storage thingy that I've seen on ebay etc.? Would one of those external drives work for backing up physical media collections, or are they a bad idea? Is that considered NAS?
I'm sorry I don't understand any of this stuff , I really should. I will check out the RAID wiki !
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I plan on having a raid of 5 drives and a hot spare, with a cold spare next to the NAS.
I am considering 8/10 TB drives, I currently have less than 10 TB of data in my archive.
What are the advantages of the different raid z leves?
Disks that can fail. I can lose 2 and be okay. That gives me time to swap in my spare or order a new one. For a home user imo 2 drive redundancy is plenty but 3 for a 6 drive mirror was too much. These things aren't cheap!
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You need three copies of your data: the working copy, the nightly backup, and the offsite backup in case of natural disaster. I physically mailed a drive to my father in another state in case my building catches fire. You can also use a safe deposit box or give a drive to a friend who is geologically separated from your location.
Notice: recent info suggests that SSDs suffer bit-rot when not powered. Not enough confirmed info at this time for me to go into it further, but please rewrite important data from time to time.
What if all I have in life is worthless or easily duplicated?
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Disks that can fail. I can lose 2 and be okay. That gives me time to swap in my spare or order a new one. For a home user imo 2 drive redundancy is plenty but 3 for a 6 drive mirror was too much. These things aren't cheap!
These things aren't cheap!
I am learning this now, especially since I will buy several of them.
This will be my most expensive computer I own by far....
But I am trying to buy reliable parts to last me 10+ years and possibly beyond...
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Ahh , I see , i still have no clue
. But at least the acronyms are kind of giving me an idea. Thanks !So these are not like a physical 1 terabyte external storage thingy that I've seen on ebay etc.? Would one of those external drives work for backing up physical media collections, or are they a bad idea? Is that considered NAS?
I'm sorry I don't understand any of this stuff , I really should. I will check out the RAID wiki !
Removable storage isn't NAS, it's just good ol' storage, but a valid backup option nonetheless.
Removable HDDs and SSDs tend to be less reliable than their internal counterparts, I don't know to what degree, but if you make backups reasonably frequently, your OS will PROBABLY detect failures and point them out.If you have extremely important data (like $9B worth of Bitcoin or something) you would need:
- more than one off-site backup;
- to know how to properly encrypt them and keep them safe;
- a more reliable source of advice than some shmuck on Lemmy.
Speaking of encryption: do NOT store unencrypted sensitive data on removable storage.
Things like .kdbx files from KeePass should be fine, the application takes care of encryption for you, otherwise you should look for ways to encrypt each file or the storage device itself.I personally have one 2TB external HDD and a RAID0 pair of 1TB HDDs, which I don't use exclusively as backup, and if an airplane crashes on my house then gg bb; cloud storage solutions are way more reliable than handling storage yourself, but then you'd be entrusting third parties with your stuff.
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Removable storage isn't NAS, it's just good ol' storage, but a valid backup option nonetheless.
Removable HDDs and SSDs tend to be less reliable than their internal counterparts, I don't know to what degree, but if you make backups reasonably frequently, your OS will PROBABLY detect failures and point them out.If you have extremely important data (like $9B worth of Bitcoin or something) you would need:
- more than one off-site backup;
- to know how to properly encrypt them and keep them safe;
- a more reliable source of advice than some shmuck on Lemmy.
Speaking of encryption: do NOT store unencrypted sensitive data on removable storage.
Things like .kdbx files from KeePass should be fine, the application takes care of encryption for you, otherwise you should look for ways to encrypt each file or the storage device itself.I personally have one 2TB external HDD and a RAID0 pair of 1TB HDDs, which I don't use exclusively as backup, and if an airplane crashes on my house then gg bb; cloud storage solutions are way more reliable than handling storage yourself, but then you'd be entrusting third parties with your stuff.
That is quite the education I just got. Thank you !
I am a bozo when it comes to these things
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That is quite the education I just got. Thank you !
I am a bozo when it comes to these things
No problem, this stuff can get very complicated if you want system-wide backups, but honestly if you just have media to keep safe simply copying stuff to an external HDD every now and then is enough.
