Archiving data

adrichardson81 · 10 May 2022 at 14:43

Hi all

I've got about 12 years of edited photos on my rig (raw, tiff and jpg). I've got a pretty solid backup regime (on-site, off-site, cloud) but I'd like to make an archive copy that I can keep for a year or so.

I'll be using a 2tb removable ssd but I'm a bit worried about bit-rot of the drive is powered off for long petiods. Is it less risky to keep a single macrium image of the photos drive on there, or make a physical copy of all the folders?

Thanks!

Tetras · 10 May 2022 at 16:57

I would say that a physical copy of the folders would be better because it's less likely to be unrecoverably corrupted if you store them individually than as a single file, but I don't know how macrium actually works (I've never heard of it) and how it stores the individual files, or how it would cope with corruption. Though, it is likely to be much slower to copy and update than using backup software.

I would rather use an external HDD than a SSD for this, if it will be unplugged for long periods. There's little benefit to an SSD for this type of archive usage and large cheap SSDs are even worse for long-term data retention since they're often QLC-based.

adrichardson81 · 10 May 2022 at 17:36

Thanks - if it helps the ssd is a Crucial mx500, so it's TLC. It's a spare, so cost isn't an issue. Macrium is the same idea as Acronis, so it'll store an image of the drive.

I was worried about a hdd seizing up if it's left too long without use.

darael · 11 May 2022 at 00:11

Hard drives could seize up and SSDs could suffer from bit rot if left for extended periods of time. So either could fail, whichever way you look at it.

If you can, buy a cheap hard drive. They are so cheap now for something like 1TB. Then store you data on both of these and power cycle them for an hour every 6 months.

I've a Samsung 840 Pro that I rarely use in a USB caddy. I use it every couple of months for a backup and it's never given me any issues.

Rroff · 11 May 2022 at 05:52

Aside from some models like the 840 Evo (where it isn't uncommon for them to be compromised by around a year of sitting powered off) bit rot type issues shouldn't be a problem in a year or two but it would be better to use a mechanical drive if you are worried about the shelf-life of the written data.

adrichardson81 · 11 May 2022 at 08:08

Thanks everyone - I hadn't thought about doubling up, but that makes a lot of sense.

If I stick a macrium image on there and run a verify every 6 months or so, that should be enough to keep it fresh.