How do you backup your data?

Asking this question as I need to find an easy solution to doing this.

I have recently made a Raid 1 Config, but to my surprise for some reason it has failed. I have never done RAID on a PC before, and my first time within a few weeks it has failed... Luckily there was no data on it just yet.
(When I try to re-activate volume, it says the plex is missing? - I have no idea what to do. Could removing a SATA cable and putting it back (same position) have done this?)


I am not sure whether to get an independent unit for the backup, or continue to use my PC. I have a backup in place where once a month I will back things up, but I want something on a 'now' basis.

I know RAID 1 isn't a backup, more so for drive failure, but I at least wanted it to copy whatever I wanted to 'one drive' to then duplicate to another. However I am now dealing with it having failed, reading some guides it looks like I have to rebuild it and lose all of the data on there (there isn't anything on there luckily). That's not good is it!

Should I get a NAS unit to be able to do this? What do you think? I wanted to be able to use my PC (save £) but if it is going to mess up like it already has, then I have no choice but to get an independent unit do I?

Also be interested to hear how you guys back up your data.

Minimum would be the data copied to a different device. Better would be the data copied to a different device in a different location (NAS in the same building is just as vulnerable to a fire as the main PC). Perhaps use an external drive and leave it at someone else's house (unplugged - crypto virus?).

All I want to be able to do is use my PC where the data is copied onto two drives. I don't mind backing up once a month to a non-connected drive.

I guess my main question is, can I 100% rely on Windows to make a Raid 1 and actually hold all of my data on two drives - or is this failure like I have had a regular occurrence. I did turn on the pc with some sata cables disconnected but they all have stayed in the same port.

Or do I need to buy a separate NAS style unit? If so, any recommendation on reliable ones that aren't too expensive.

I wouldn't bother with RAID at all, the complications it introduces isn't worth the risk to your data.

darael said:

I wouldn't bother with RAID at all, the complications it introduces isn't worth the risk to your data.

Click to expand...

Any program that I could get that I can get to automate the copying?

E.g. I transfer Video1.avi to HDD 1 and then it does exactly that to HDD 2?

The drives are identical.

Wish this was simple...

It depends on the amount of data you want to back up and speed of the transfer if a NAS is worth going for. Most "NAS" systems nowadays operate more like servers than devices for back ups.

Burning to disks or buying an external USB/ESATA drive is the simplest option.

Is the host OS windows?

NAS is a good backup destination.

KIA said:

Is the host OS windows?

NAS is a good backup destination.

Click to expand...

Yes, host is Windows.

Hmm, I thought there would be more replies on this thread... being OcUK an all.

I really thought RAID was a good idea to 'live' backup incase of a drive failure and then make use of my external drive for weekly/monthly backups.

Any recommendations on NAS? Don't want to due to £, but if RAID is going to fail randomly like that then it is a complete waste. Surprised no one has had this experience.

RAID 1 gives you resilience against drive failure. But you really need a proper hardware RAID controller, not one of the FakeRAID ones. I have a HP Microserver running Windows Server Essentials 2012 which backs up my PCs every night. I also periodically backup my main PC to USB hard drives.

I use Acronis True Image, there are other similar programs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disk_cloning_software

I have an external which is on a Nonstop Backup for my important directories.
As this is an incremental backup if I fail and over write a document by accent I can retrieve previous saves.

I also backup complete disk images to externals that aren't permanently connected.

It's also advisable to backup your irreplaceable files on an off site location, either online backup or external stored in a different location/family/work.

Also all backs ups are encrypted.

Raid should really only be used for performance (for most people single SSD is better than any home raid solution) and enterprise usage IMO.

Look in to DrivePool, it's what I'm planning to use for my 'server' - a mishmash of old computer parts and new hard drives. I don't trust motherboard level RAID any more after a few failures and enterprise level raid is expensive.

For the offsite part of it a bluray drive will be good to backup the live data while a dedicated hard drive for the archive copy, both of which kept away from home.

My current backup solution is a bit overkill but at times (not currently) I've been doing work where data loss could end up expensive :S

Based around a 4 bay QNAP NAS with RAID 1 mirroring internally - largely for uptime convenience so if a drive does fail I can be up and running again with least fuss - the internal RAID is then replicated in realtime (a feature of the NAS) to an external NTFS USB drive which means I can just pick it up and go and not have to worry about trying to rebuild a RAID array, etc. if it came to it. I also have the front USB copy port configured to take a snapshot of certain folders and have 2 USB drives I rotate for that purpose so I have isolated offline copies incase of stuff like crypto malware. When working on anything important/commercial I usually also have the relevant folder backed upto a cloud service on Amazon and/or an SD card I keep in my phone or wallet (which also has some stuff like my CV on it which I wouldn't want to lose if I could help it).

I use Crashplan to back up to a separate hard drive and also to their cloud backup server.

Another +1 for forgetting about RAID, there are very few cases from a consumers use where it may be needed, for everything else, it's not worth the bother + expense.

From your OP, it doesn't look like you've yet to identify the data you want to backup, or the quantity of data. Do you want/need the OS to be backed up?

You should be able to redeploy a windows 10 install from scratch, + most basic software in under an hour. For this reason i don't bother backing up the OS, it's not that much of a hassle to get back to a good working state.

You can backup your data in a variety of ways depending on how often that data changes, and the type of data.
For example... Holiday photos, most people are likely to just copy these onto an external drive or upload to the cloud, the photos themselves don't change so they have a single backup, and are then available for restore purposes.

The more challenging data types are those that change frequently, imagine you're writing a long story, you don't want to keep creating a full backup of the document when the first 75% of the file hasn't changed in the last 10 copies. Therefore we do an incremental copy, where we just backup the recently changed data.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas, but really we'd need some more info on what you plan to back up, data sizes, and how often.