Storage?

**pointedem** · 12-09-2008, 08:37 PM

What do you guys use? I found a RAID drive for onsight back up (1tb+1tb) for 250.

A different thread on here got me thinking... If I lost my HD I would lose everything. That would be a bad bad day.

Anyone else have input or suggestions?

4-TEEF · 12-09-2008, 09:26 PM

Waaaaaaasup MB?

I use an external drive and it's a good first step. A single drive works fine, RAID set up with 2 mirrored drives is the safest and RAID with 2 drives striped is the fastest. Speed really isn't the priority for backup because you usually aren't working while you're backing up so a single drive or a mirrored pair is the smartest... I'm dumb so I have a striped pair connected via firewire 800 and it is FUUUUUCKING FAAAAAAAST!

I use it for other stuff to so I have a reason

Next step is off-site backup using the internet or another external drive that you swap with your home drive periodically. This is to protect against fire, flood, theft, etc. Any chance that your work would let you copy some stuff to a "personal" folder on their server? That way you could bring your external in every couple of weeks and back it up there.

I like these external RAIDS at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firew...4/USB/EliteAL/

**pointedem** · 12-09-2008, 09:50 PM

Hola senior. Lol I wish w/ work. Thanks for the suggestion and link. Ya speed isn't really an issue, and I'm rolling one 500 right now, so that would go offsite somewhere.

Webcams lookin good these days

**SaSSafraS_LTK** · 12-09-2008, 10:04 PM

http://www.carbonite.com/

If it's good enough for Jabba, it's good enough for me!

**Tippster** · 12-09-2008, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by SaSSafraS_LTK

http://www.carbonite.com/

If it's good enough for Jabba, it's good enough for me!

Just hope you never need it: http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

Hugh Conway · 12-09-2008, 11:33 PM

http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing

not the cheapest

**SaSSafraS_LTK** · 12-10-2008, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by Tippster

Just hope you never need it: http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

I've never tried to restore to a computer other than the one I have it installed on...maybe I should give that a test-drive.

S3 would cost me approximately 5x as much per year, NOT counting the (hopefully) one-time transfer fees.

**The Jackamo** · 12-10-2008, 01:25 AM

I personally use a Drobo (http://www.drobo.com/Products/drobo.html). They're a bit pricier than your average RAID setup, but they're an awful lot easier to manage and configure.

Right now I have three of them (one for on-site backup, and the other two for off-site at my folks' place that I rotate every week). I have three 1TB drives in each of them, and it stripes my data across all three drives while also offering redundancy and ease of expansion – pop in a new drive if I need more space, zero configuration required. And if one of the drives starts to fail, I can simply switch it out with a new one, and the Drobo starts propagating the data back onto that drive. It may not as configurable or customizable as a RAID array, but I just want to eat the bacon, not see how it's made, ya know?

4-TEEF · 12-10-2008, 02:12 AM

Originally Posted by Tippster

Just hope you never need it: http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

Scary. Plus backing up system data over the web seems like it would suck because it would take sooooooo long to download it's not like you can boot from the internet. I can boot from firewire or take the drive out of the enclosure and put it in my computer in an emergency. 10 minutes down time maybe.

I just had a thought... I think my website host gives me 200GB of storage for free right now. 7000 photos in LightRoom is currently taking up less than 50GB so I could use that for remote backup with no fees at all.

**f2f** · 12-10-2008, 02:15 AM

using the "cloud" as a backing store would only make sense if all your apps lived there too.

**Rubicon** · 12-10-2008, 07:41 AM

I have a 1tb Seagate external HD for bulk storage. When I fill this one I plan on adding another. A RAID array is in my near future. I also burn all my photos to single layer DVD, make two copies, one copy is stored in a fire safe at my place. The other is stored in a fire safe at my folks place.

CD/DVDs do have a half life. There is some debate as to what that half life is. So at some point in the future I am going to need to copy all my photos to new DVDs and keep doing that until a more permanent form of storage is invented.

If I took more photos this might not be practice. But I shoot just a little less carefully than I would if I were shooting film so I don't end up with 1000s of files after an outing.

**SaSSafraS_LTK** · 12-10-2008, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by f2f

using the "cloud" as a backing store would only make sense if all your apps lived there too.

How else do you intend to do off-site backup?

One company I used to work for made a backup on a disk every week and walked it across the street to a bank safety deposit box. That was a total pain in the ass, and not something I would do for my personal data.

**Gunder** · 12-10-2008, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by 4-TEEF

Scary. Plus backing up system data over the web seems like it would suck because it would take sooooooo long to download it's not like you can boot from the internet. I can boot from firewire or take the drive out of the enclosure and put it in my computer in an emergency. 10 minutes down time maybe.

I just had a thought... I think my website host gives me 200GB of storage for free right now. 7000 photos in LightRoom is currently taking up less than 50GB so I could use that for remote backup with no fees at all.

I was doing this until my web host (dreamhost) caught me and threatened to close my account as they wanted extra $$ for online backup..... bull shit they advertise the space but wont let you use it for non web formated files.

**pointedem** · 12-10-2008, 10:22 PM

Gotta love that shit Gunder ^^.

That Drobo looks like the way to go, but $$$. Thinking basic RAID for onsite backup, and safedepost/ something similar for off site. The online backups seem like there is too much shit out of my control for comfort. Who is the BEST online backup company, price irrelevant? I'm curious to see what kind of systems are available.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

**The Jackamo** · 12-11-2008, 03:00 AM

Originally Posted by SaSSafraS_LTK

How else do you intend to do off-site backup?

One company I used to work for made a backup on a disk every week and walked it across the street to a bank safety deposit box. That was a total pain in the ass, and not something I would do for my personal data.

I shuttle an off-site backup to my parent's place weekly. If something were to go HORRIBLY wrong here and the TWO backups I have at my apartment get nixed, I have something to fall back on, albeit dated by a few days or so.

advres · 12-11-2008, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by pointedem

What do you guys use? I found a RAID drive for onsight back up (1tb+1tb) for 250.

A different thread on here got me thinking... If I lost my HD I would lose everything. That would be a bad bad day.

Anyone else have input or suggestions?

It's all about how you set the RAID up. I would set that RAID up personally as a RAID 1 and effectively have 1TB of storage with a mirrored backup. If you buy a bigger solution with 3 or more drives, I would set it up as RAID 5. If you set the one you are referring to as RAID 0 you will get a speed increase and get 2TB of storage but no backup. If you don't understand what I am saying, do some reading: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

And I second the OWC drives that 4-TEEF suggests. They are relatively cheap (price wise), quality bomber products and the company has a kickass customer service department. I have bought from Other World for a long time and they have never let me down with anything.

My $.02 on storage. #1 - Don't cheap out and #2 - have a redundant backup if not two. anything with mechanical parts that move very fast and produce lots of heat are prone to failing. Would you rather spend the green now and have all your files in tact or spend a ton later on recovery options and not be guaranteed anything?

**pointedem** · 02-15-2009, 08:55 PM

I ended up finding what seems to be some great options for RAID 1 and 1 TB drives, thought I'd pass my info along:

Enclosure:
Icy Dock USB and eSATA 2 bay
http://www.icydock.com/product/mb662us-2s.html

Drive:
Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, 3.5 SATA

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...66&dcaid=17902

Review of drive.
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardwar...le.php/3742526

**likwid** · 02-16-2009, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by Tippster

Just hope you never need it: http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

All those reviews scream "I didn't read the documentation that comes with it and pops up when you install it on how to back up files." and "I'm a complete idiot who is trying to contact free support."

Honestly it works well. Yes, you need to transfer to your new machine when you wipe your machine or switch machines which is a sum total of logging into the website, going to your machine entry, hitting "transfer". Wow. So fucking hard.