Advice on a simple automated backup solution

spook2575 · 24 Jun 2018 at 21:56

Hi all - looking for some advice to have a simple automated backup process.

Current thinking (windows 10 user)

250gb SSD boot drive
4 tb internal HDD storage drive for personal documents etc
Using windows file history to backup to another internal 4tb HDD and an external 4tb hdd (kept offsite)
OneDrive 1tb backup for key document folders (via current office 365 subscription).

Questions:

Does this sound reasonable or can I improve it further without much hassle.
For my use is there much additional advantage if a NAS to my router?
Which HDDs would you recommend I consider - looking for reliability and life over speed/performance.
Are there any other backup software I should consider?

siliconjim · 24 Jun 2018 at 22:29

Hi Spook,
I backup to a 4 bay nas with 4 x 4 tb WD reds, using macrium reflect backup software automated to run whenever I want. I then have an automated back up of anything important to Dropbox from the NAS, with the upgraded version of Dropbox, which allows me to choose a history of files in case of encryption virus/Trojan malware. Hope that helps.

BongoHunter · 25 Jun 2018 at 23:33

Personally I use a NAS and the robocopy command to backup to it for my windows machine, I just have some windows scheduled tasks to do an incremental backup each night, and a full backup once a week.

spook2575 · 27 Jun 2018 at 21:57

Thank you both, I think I'm convinced to include a NAS setup alongside extra internal drives.
The WD reds look good. Fair to assume to not mix and match brands for RAID1?

Rannoch · 27 Jun 2018 at 22:02

As mentioned, Macrium Reflect.

BongoHunter · 27 Jun 2018 at 22:19

spook2575 said:
Thank you both, I think I'm convinced to include a NAS setup alongside extra internal drives.
The WD reds look good. Fair to assume to not mix and match brands for RAID1?

I would try and keep all drives in a RAID array the same unless going for something that uses ZFS with direct drive access (no hardware raid)