Backing up dilemma

SaltandSauce

SaltandSauce

SaltandSauce

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30 May 2012
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When first setting up my microserver server, I had full intentions of setting up a RAID array to ensure my data would always be recoverable if anything was ever to go wrong. Well.. things got a little out of hand and I no longer have any space with all four bays being used by hard drives that are completely full. The question is, what's my best option for backing up my data now?

As it stands, I have four hard disks weighing in at a total of 12TB. I really don't want to lose any of this data so if it means having to shell out cash then by all means, please recommend the best option possible.

Thanks
 
Apologies for bumping an old thread but I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some advice here. I'm still at at a loose end as to what to do. Can anyone please point me in the right direction?

My hard drives are all fairly new but I've had too many bad experiences where I've not bothered to backup and I've lost everything. This time round I'd much rather do things right. Even if it means having to spend the cash to replicate everything!
 
12TB is a pretty chunky amount of data to back up in a domestic setting!

What kind of safety do you want for the data? With that amount of data a back up is either going to cost (e.g. buy another microserver and replicate the data onto it, or build a custom server and build a larger RAID array) or take ages by taking advantage of one of the unlimited cloub backup services (weeks or months to transfer the data).

If you want offsite data (in case you're burgaled and its all nicked), one option is to use Amazon Glacier which has an option to send hard drives with the data (rather than try and upload it all over the internet) and pretty good prices.

If onsite, I think you're going beyond a microserver and you need to build your own (or buy an expensive enterprise storage appliance). There are a lot of good threads on these forums with people documenting their builds, including one guy with a 40TB machine!
 
If I remember correctly there's a thread in the project logs sub forum with some guy build a system using an 8-bay NAS case ... The OP could do something like that and then make a copy onto it.

You also need to consider the rate of change of the data ... If it's a small rate of change then it could be possible to build an identical micro server, populate it, and then have it at a friend/relatives and replicate changes to it ... If it's a large rate of change it may not be practical to do that over an Internet connection.
 
memyselfandi said:
You also need to consider the rate of change of the data ... If it's a small rate of change then it could be possible to build an identical micro server, populate it, and then have it at a friend/relatives and replicate changes to it ... If it's a large rate of change it may not be practical to do that over an Internet connection.
Click to expand...

That's how I intend to do mine (although on a much smaller scale!) by just putting an extra drive into a relatives machine. It's mainly for ripped films and irreplaceable photo's so not much change once set up. If I do ever make significant additions I'll chuck them onto a portable drive and take them over rather than send it via the web.
 
Has anyone used companies like BackBlaze for backing up large amounts of data ?, they say its unlimited for just $5 per month but how would they feel if you uploaded 12TB of Movies, Photos and Music and how long would it take ?

I get 10MB upload speed with Virgin but I bet it would take a while to upload that amount of data :)
 
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One other option if on-site backup is acceptable is to add an external SATA drive case to the microserver and add more drives in that.
 
Attu90 said:
Has anyone used companies like BackBlaze for backing up large amounts of data ?, they say its unlimited for just $5 per month but how would they feel if you uploaded 12TB of Movies, Photos and Music and how long would it take ?

I get 10MB upload speed with Virgin but I bet it would take a while to upload that amount of data :)
Click to expand...
I tried it with CrashPlan via CeeJay software. After I uploaded about 30GB they capped my upload speed to about 512kbps. Shortly after that they excluded *.mpg, *.avi and *.mkv from my backup selection. The annoying thing was, I asked them prior to signing up what their fair use policy meant, and if it was okay to upload 2TB of data and they said;

Support at CeeJay Software said:
If it's 2TB split between all your computers that's fine
Click to expand...

On the plus side, their support team was very quick in processing my request to cancel my subscription and close my account.
 
Cheap tapes drives can end up being a false economy by the time you've interfaced them into a system which is capable of streaming data to them at a speed which makes their backup time reasonable, taken into account media costs and taken into account that you are going to have to make sure you can recover from the tape media as well on a reasonably regular basis (as you don't want to find out you can't when you need too).
 
I currently use two cheap externals to back up my home server which I then keep one at my parents and one at mine to add a little off site. Although I only have 4tb to back up atm, not 12tb so not sure how well this system might work for you.
 
Hades said:
One other option if on-site backup is acceptable is to add an external SATA drive case to the microserver and add more drives in that.
Click to expand...

This seems to be the road that I intend on going down. With so much data to backup, I don't think cloud storage is the way to go. Especially considering I'm only on a 3MB line. I haven't a clue what my upload speed is but I know it's slow enough that it's just not justifiable.

I've been considering spending the cash on one of the following: ICY BOX IB-3640SU3 4x 3.5 inch External 4-Bay JBOD Enclosure for SATA l/ll/lll HDD

41cZSrbUzDL.jpg


Features
• Silent operation by thermal controlled fan
• Energy saving by supporting sleep modus
• Easy assembling by trayless design
• HDD capacity unlimited
• Supports: Windows XP/Vista/Win7, MAC OS X
• Plug&Play and Hot Swap
• Please note that a port multiplier is required for correct E-SATA functionality
Click to expand...

What do you guys (and girls) think? It seem a sensible option if cost isn't an issue?
 
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I'd get another microserver, 4x4TB in raid5 gives u 12TB usable, job done.
rebuild times are going to be a bxtch but it is what it is. you could use crashplan to mirror to another location or use the existing unit to mirror the 12tb..
 
nope, I'm still on the tape side.

less setup cost, better distribution of backups as can can hold duplication's across as many sites as you like.

sure the restore time will be less, but this isn't a bank that requires 99.99999% up time. This is a home user wanting to protect his data.

what if the unthinkable happens and he has a fire destroying both machines and ALL hdd?
 
After a bit of research, tape doesn't seem that feasible. The current generation is LTO6, and used drives on eBay are roughly:

- LTO3 (400 GB native): £150
- LTO4 (800 GB native): £600
- LTO5 (1.5 TB native): £1200+
- LTO6 (2.5 TB native): £1700++

LTO3 and 4 tapes seem to be around £15 each, and LTO5 tapes around £25 each.

So...

- LTO3: £150 + (£15 * 30 tapes) = £600
- LTO4: £600 + (£15 * 15 tapes) = £825
- LTO5: £1200 + (£25 * 8 tapes) = £1400

This doesn't include the cost of a SCSI/SAS card, which is required to connect the drive in the first place. Also, these are 2nd-hand drives, which could die at any moment.

The above only covers the initial backup costs, you then have ongoing backup tapes to buy, a backup schedule to maintain, and at least occasionally, test your restores.

So, in other words, a lot of expense and complication. Definitely not worth it, in my opinion.
 
Do you really need to keep 12TB of data? I am going through all my files atm, trying to cut down everything to around 3TB max, I have movies and music that I hardly ever play, it's nice to have big collection of things, because you never know, but to be honest most things can be downloaded pretty quickly now. General rule I apply to my files is if there is something I haven't listened to or watched in a year time, I probably never will, therefore its not worth keeping.

For documents etc I keep everything on Dropbox. I have family pictures and videos on one HDD which is backed up to another machine. I think Flickr gives you 1TB of space for pictures etc, I considered that before but with my connection it would take too long to upload everything I have, so I just stick with local backup.

I would re-consider whether you need to keep everything, 12TB seems like a lot of data.....
 
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