Need Help Choosing DAS Backup Solution

[midiman]

Hi, I would like to buy something to help back up my PC to.

I am currently backing up my PC to a local drive, but it doesn't have much space.

I have thought about a couple of options, but I can't decide what to do.

1. Purchase a 16TB Disk, install that and backup my entire PC to it. (Problem not expandable)
2. Purchase an External USB Drive and back up my entire PC to it. (Problem No RAID and Single Point Of Failure)
3. Purchase an External USB Diskless Enclosure, populate it with some disks, and back up my entire PC to it. (Problem added costs of the disks and they all need to be of same type for RAID)

All I am doing is using Veeam to backup my PC, and I just want somewhere to send the backups to, so that I can get to them in any emergency.

Please can you help.

Thanks

 

[midiman]

Best solution really is a NAS but if you want to keep it to locally connected drives then consider two or three USB HDDs and use them in rotation.
To properly back-up your data will cost money. You have to decide just how much your data is worth.

Why is a NAS a best solution? I just want to backup the PC and I am interested in sharing the content over a network.
Would two or three USB external drives be cheaper and better than an enclosure with a bunch of disks? I thought the JBODs could be used in a raid array.
Thanks

 

[midiman]

If that's the case then a NAS is definitely the best solution or did you omit the 'not'? A basic 2-bay NAS gives you RAID1 so you're protected against a single drive failure. A NAS can be configured to power on at a set time then powered off later so it saves power by only being on when needed.

Oddly, yes, external USB drives are often cheaper than equivalent bare drives. Of course we don't know exactly what the white label HDDs inside the case are based on but those in the WD Elements range seem to be good quality. And you've saved the cost of the enclosure. With multiple external drives you have the option to keep one of the drives on another site as extra security against a disaster at your home.

If the drives are configured as JBOD then converting them to RAID will lose any data on them.

Hi Snapshot,

The idea of not having the device on all the time sounds good and I like the idea.
But couldn't I do that with the USB Enclosure, too? I could turn it on and off when needed.

I am not too bothered about off-site backups, and something local will do. It doesn't have to have a raid, either. Any would do (USB Enclosure, NAS, Internal HDD)

I just want a decent amount of storage to hold a full backup and extra files.

I was even thinking of buying a 16TB Sata Disk and putting it in my PC.

1. 16TB SATA Disk is around £180
2. 16TB USB enclosure maybe £260
3. 16TB NAS and disks probably £400+??

If my main drive went, At least I would have a full backup on the 16TB disk.

The NAS option sounds great but it would be costly.

What do you think?

Thanks

 

[midiman]

I'd start by figuring out what you need to back up, and how large that would be.

For instance, I'm a hobbyist photographer, so my photos are my top priority. They're on a dedicated internal drive with my docs and music. My 2nd highest priority is the OS partition, so that's backed up too. Games can be downloaded again if I like it se the drive, so I don't bother backing them up.

If I use Macrium Reflect, I can comfortably fit 2 images of of the os partition and the photo drive on a 2tb drive. I'm a bit paranoid, so I have a 2nd drive that I keep at work too .

I also have Backblaze set up for the documents drive.

It's not foolproof, but it was less hassle than setting up a NAS.

Hi, I am the same.
I do photo and video work and I want to protect my media.
I back up the O/S Using Veeam and that works well. But the Full Image is about 1TB.
I probably have about 3TB in total to backup.
Therefore I would assume 8TB of backup storage is enough.

Either using another Single Internal Hard Disk, or an External Drive.

 

[midiman]

No, a single drive is not the answer, especially if it's internal to the PC. Think about what happens if the PSU puts a spike on various voltages.
You need multiple drives used in rotation. I have four external drives that can each hold three images of my PC. So, imaging once a month, I have a year's worth of backups interleaved across the drives. This is in addition to what my NASs get every night/week. I admit this is probably OTT but I used to set up backup strategies for major companies when I was working in the City and some habits are hard to break.

Hi,
Yes I think you are going a bit OTT for home us. I work in IT and we have a PB's of total storage.
Were we run Site to Site, and Amazon backups.

I don't anticipate my house burning down, or going to the extremes of any major disasters. I just want something to hold a backup so that I can get to if necessary.

An external drive would do.

 

[midiman]

I'd definitely recommend at least some sort of cloud backup, if you're not able to keep a physical copy offsite. Ideally you should follow the 3-2-1 approach. 3 copies, including the original. 2 different media. 1 offsite copy. Backblaze works out at about £10 a month.

Offsite/remote backup means you're covered if there's a fire, flood, burglary etc. Definitely don't use an internal drive - it's way too high risk if anything happens to your rig (I've seen bad PSUs take drives with them when they die).

Hi, that could possibly happen but in all of my 25 years in IT, I have never seen two drives taken out at once, and I have worked in Multimillion Pounds Data Centres with huge NAS Arrays.
There is a risk to everything but some are slim.

 

[midiman]

Given your risk appetite to loss of data, I would go with option 2.

My reasoning:
1) this isn't a backup, this is just mirroring the contents of your other drives, offering very little protection.
3) sounds like it would be too much if you can fit all your data on a USB drive - at least it has the added benefits of being able to take it out of the house.

Hi Semple,
You are probably right but I am hearing a lot of reports that most of the USB Enclosures are no where near 16TB.

Option 1 - would give me ample space to store my data. I am backing up my PC using Veeam, so it will not be mirroring. The backup file will be saved onto the disk.
The only option that it wouldn't give me is being removable.

Thanks

 

[midiman]

Hi,
I ended buying a 16TB USB external enclosure from Amazon.
I took a gamble on it but so far it's great.
It looks amazing and I am getting about 15TB from it.
I can't complain and it looks great.

It comes with a 2-year warranty, and my backups are working well. I still have 12TB!! left to store additional data.

It is smaller than an Mac Mini and sits nicely next to my desktop PC.

It is called UnionSine 16TB External Drive and I thoroughly recommend it for the price and peace of mind.

 

[midiman]

May as well have not bothered backing up then... you don't know the actual brand or model of hard drive being used inside it, or where it was sourced from


Good luck with that from a brand no one has ever heard of.

What does that matter? The point that it is being backed up is better than nothing and like I said, it comes with a 2 year warranty.
I'm backing up my most valuable data to it and it is working like a charm.

And if it fails I will simply get it replaced.

The chances of me losing my PC and External Drive are probably around 1 in a 10 billion or more.

I think it's a really good choice for those that don't need a NAS and want something that they can easily get to and transport around.

 

[midiman]

Because you've just said that you're backing up your most valuable data. Surely if it's that valuable it deserves more than a generic hard drive enclosure that potentially contains a drive of unknown origin (could be a 2nd drive that's been used by one of the big chia farms that are now winding down). Unless you open the case and verify what drive is in it, it could be a fake for all you know.
I assume you've a way of verifying the written data?


That means nothing - no one has heard of the company and they won't exist in 6 months time, let alone 2 years.


Overconfident much? And yet we wonder why people still manage to lose their data.

Even if the company vanished, I could simply buy something similar.
I am very confident that I will not lose my PC and the External Drive at the same time.
Therefore I will have one or the other if something does happen.
It would require a site disaster for me to lose both mediums. i.e. Flood, Fire, Act of Terrorism etc..
Thanks for your views but I think that this solution will work really well for me and I still have around 12TB of data extra space for other data.
It's a bit of a win-win in terms of price and functionality.

 

[midiman]

You've spent 25 years in IT, you think there are the type of NAS's being spoken about in this thread in datacenters, and you're happy backing up your most valuable data on an unknown HDD? Something doesn't add up.

I know what we are using in the DCs and the kit and the tech is in the region of $1Million+ but I don't need that for my own data
I don't need the expense of a NAS, either. What make the drive is doesn't matter to me, as I don't expect the drive to fail.
I deal with drive failures in huge data-intensive RAID arrays and I don't need that reliance here.

Like I said, if the drive fails, I will still have my original data and zero data loss.
I will simply provision a new drive and back it up again.
It would take two simultaneous failures for me to lose everything and the chances of that in a home setup are virtually impossible.

It just doesn't happen even in a large RAID array in a DC.

Thanks for all the replies but the option that I chose to go down was the best for my needs in terms of prices and ease.