What external HDD to get for local backups with Backblaze remote backup?

[litetaker]

So I have a Asus Zenbook Pro with a 512 GB SSD, and a Western Digital My Passport external drive with 1 TB of space. I have been using Backblaze to backup all this data for a while now, however I do not have a local backup for my data so far. Also, I take a lot of pictures with my DSLR and the raw images from the camera as well as the post processed JPEGs quickly take up a ton of space and I will soon run out of storage to space on my 512 GB SSD + 1 TB hard disk combined to put these photos. Strictly speaking I don't need to have all the raws, but I have similar data hoarding problems as LMG! In the long run I will likely delete some RAWs.

 

So, firstly I need to get a new external HDD for additional space. And secondly I need to have a local backup solution as well, so as to quickly recover from data loss compared to having to download loads of data from Backblaze. I don't intend to do any fancy setups such as a NAS. My idea is as follows:

• Get two 4 TB HDDs. I will mirror the data I store on these so that they are basically a copy of each other, and one of these will be treated as a backup.
• I will use my current 1 TB HDD as a backup for my 512 GB SSD. Again, I plan to mirror the content of my SSD on this HDD. Given the difference in size, I could use it for some more fancy backup strategy? Like file history?

I feel like a consumer grade HDD could do the trick as I don't have any requirements of super fast speeds, as long as it is reasonably reliable. My current WD HDD seems to be of good quality (fingers crossed), so I wonder if their 4 TB HDD is good quality for the money? Link > WD My Passport 4TB (£82)

 

Do you folks think this 4 TB drive is good quality, and fair price? Please let me know if you have better suggestions for a local backup.
 

Finally, what software should I use to achieve my goal of mirroring the data on one 4 TB drive to the other, and likewise mirroring the data on my SSD to my 1 TB drive? Whenever I connect my 4 TB drives, they should behave like 1 4TB drive and replicate data (I suppose that is RAID1) and when I connect my 1 TB drive to my laptop, it should backup the data from the laptop's SSD.

 

This is just my idea, but perhaps a little complex. Let me know if there is a nicer way of doing this.

[litetaker]

Some more thoughts: I see that Windows 10 has a option of setting up a mirrored volume. But I am thinking of doing this with two external drives that are not going to be always connected to the PC, and also with the 1 TB drive that also won't be always connected to the PC. Will it be okay to disconnect such drives from the PC and reconnect, and will they still be able to behave as mirrored drives?

[Kedohawyr]

Mirror volume won't work correctly for that situation.

 

One suggestion I have for your 512GB->1TB backup, depending on exactly how you use it, is Macrium Reflect (I should really get paid for how many times I mention it, the version for personal use is free). You can use a saved/scheduled backup setting to make easy incremental backups. On the Pro side you'll not only get your file revision feature through the incremental backups you also get the ability to quickly and easily restore the entire drive (OS included) if anything goes wrong since it's a full disk image and not just a basic file copy. The Con side is that to access the files you do have to 'mount' the image and dated incremental revision you want as a drive first.

 

I use the 4TB (as well as a set of previously bought 2TB) WD Passport drives for regular backup and they work quite well. They are a little thicker/heavier than the old 1TB model since internally I think they're 15mm drives. There are some similar but much more expensive options targeted at professional photographers but unless someone else is paying the bill none really hits the same value/reliability mark. If you don't already know I'd suggest you take care to buy different colors, when you've got a small stack of them it becomes a really useful feature to the point that I wonder why even WD doesn't do it with all their external drive models.

 

As far as trying to make your two 4TB drives appear as one (I assume you basically want to drag and drop once to copy to both) I don't have an easy solution for you. Windows by default won't even allow you setup RAID on USB drives specifically because that's such a brittle setup. For basic file mirroring I use FreeFileSync but there's plenty of other options (I even use Microsoft's much less fancy SyncToy for some small automated backups where I want a few specific folders sync'd to a NAS every login).

 

One thing you might look at is the My Passport Wireless Pro. I'm not trying to recommend it but it might interest you, I've been researching it myself for an odd NAS role. The biggest con besides price is right now it doesn't seem like it has an option for automatic cloud backup - for example you put in an SD card, press the button to copy it to the drive, and then the drive uses its Wifi to also back that data up to OneDrive or iCloud (it supports cloud services like that but only through manual activation in the companion app)

[litetaker]

Is there some simple software to keep two folders/drives in sync? It need not be some RAID setup but basically software I can periodically run to duplicate my external HDDs? I feel that may be a more manageable solution for me.

[Kedohawyr]

2 minutes ago, litetaker said:

Is there some simple software to keep two folders/drives in sync? It need not be some RAID setup but basically software I can periodically run to duplicate my external HDDs? I feel that may be a more manageable solution for me.

There are lots that do various levels of backup like this (the backup software tossed in with new WD portable drives might even do it) but the one I use because it's simple and straight forward (while still offering some options like being able to setup exclusion filters and multiple saved jobs) is FreeFileSync.

[litetaker]

Thanks, I will take a look at that!