Deciding on a backup solution

xOAT · December 2, 2014

I need help deciding on a backup solution. I hope you guys can help me explore the possible solutions.

I currently have 3TB of data needed to be backed up somewhere. Cloud storage is not an option since my upload is only 1.5mbps and it will wreck the download speeds when uploading is in full use. So I was thinking of either 4TB external usb HDD or NAS. I have a spare desktop PC (Pentium 4 @ 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM ) that I could re-purpose into a NAS. I would like the backup to be secure (data encryption). $150 USD is my budget. Will having a NAS running with active backup slow down my internet speeds by any noticeable amount? Is an external hdd connected to the PC 24/7 actually a backup? I want to do nightly backups to an encrypted storage device so that if a hdd dies or loses data, I can get a copy from the backup. What do you guys do? Anyone have a similar setup currently and recommend it?

handruin · December 3, 2014

One easy solution would be to use Crashplan. Their backup client can work local and/or remote. You can specify the encryption and key and it will handle versioning. If you decide you want to try a remote cloud storage, you can throttle the backup so not to consume all your bandwidth (at the expense of longer backup times). You could also just let it run during off-peak times.

This is what I do for my fiancee's photo workstation. Often times she'll come home after a gig and have 50-60GB+ of photos to process. Since cloud backup can take several days to back these up, I have Crashplan configured to use my local NAS which is also Crashplan running on it. Her workstation backs up there (locally) and then to the cloud giving one level of local protection right away and then the slower cloud-based sync after.

As for the media, I'm not a huge fan of external USB devices. They aren't often as reliable and if you run them often for long backups, they tend to get warm quickly unless if you buy one with a decent external case containing fans. If your Internet connection is really that limited, you shouldn't notice any real performance loss for local usage assuming your home network is 100Mb or 1000Mb in speed. That'll likely be considerably faster than your internet pipe connection.

To answer your question regarding an external HDD connected to a PC being a backup, that's not easy to answer. Unless you're diceplined to rotate the files and ensure proper syncing of your data at the interval you desire, it may not be that effective. Often times we may not notice corruption/virus/malware for a couple days and by then your backup is likely to have overwritten a good state. By using something like Crashplan, you can specify the amount of incremental changes to preserve allowing you to go back further in time to restore. I know I sound like a sales person but it's a good tool even if you don't subscribe to the pay-based cloud storage and it works on multiple OSs. They offer a 30-day trial if you want to play around with the cloud part of it.

Captain_WD · December 3, 2014

I need help deciding on a backup solution. I hope you guys can help me explore the possible solutions.

I currently have 3TB of data needed to be backed up somewhere. Cloud storage is not an option since my upload is only 1.5mbps and it will wreck the download speeds when uploading is in full use. So I was thinking of either 4TB external usb HDD or NAS. I have a spare desktop PC (Pentium 4 @ 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM ) that I could re-purpose into a NAS. I would like the backup to be secure (data encryption). $150 USD is my budget. Will having a NAS running with active backup slow down my internet speeds by any noticeable amount? Is an external hdd connected to the PC 24/7 actually a backup? I want to do nightly backups to an encrypted storage device so that if a hdd dies or loses data, I can get a copy from the backup. What do you guys do? Anyone have a similar setup currently and recommend it?

Hey xOAT,

@handruin gave you some good examples and explanations. I would like to add a few more things:

Depending on what you are going to do with the backups, you could go for a pre-built NAS, your own NAS (as you already have a spare desktop), DAS, external HDD or Cloud storage.

Pre-built NAS devices offer great ease of usage, many features to personalize them by your own preference, good support when troubleshooting is needed and overall optimal performance. Since you need 4TB of space, I could suggest checking out WD My Cloud and WD My Cloud Mirror. Both offer acces over the internet as well as data transfer over your inner home network. They offer security features and are customize-able to give you management over who has acces to them or parts of them. The WD My Cloud Mirror is almost the same as the regular WD My Cloud with the major difference that offers 2-bay storage with pre-configured RAID1 mirroring which can be set to RAID0 or JBOD if needed to. Here are a couple of links:

WD My Cloud: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products2.aspx?id=1140

WD My Cloud Mirror: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1200

Self-built NAS devices are also good and have their advantages. They are highly upgradeable in terms of hardware, easy to expand and the warranty covers each part individually. I would suggest using NAS/RAID designed HDDs for that. A good option is WD Red drives which are designed and tuned specifically for that purpose and would serve you good. Here's a link: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810.

DAS and external drives are also good options to keep backups. A good example would be the WD My Book and WD My Passport, both featuring hardware encryption as a safety option. The second one can go up to 2TB so it might not be enough for your needs.

WD My Book: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=870

My Passport drives: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/portable/

You always have the option to purchase a good 3.5 inch internal HDD and use it in an enclosure for backups as an external drive. Again, you can use drives designed for NAS, high performance, cold storage, secondary storage, etc. I would suggest checking out WD Black and WD Green as one features 5-year warranty and the other is specifically designed for secondary storage.

WD Black: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=760.

WD Green: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=780.

Whichever option you go for, you can always use software encryption on top of the hardware one (if the drive itself offers that option) to make your data even safer. Also, do have in mind that it is recommended to have more than one backup of your important information that is stored at a different place (preferably different building) in case of theft or physical damage of the first one or the whole building.

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions,

Captain_WD.

BerthaS · December 29, 2014

I'll prefer Cloud backup solution for backing up my data. Because it gives me full protection and security to my data. However, previously i was using HDD drive for backup my data. And somehow HDD crashed or corrupted due to which i have lost my data fully. So to avoid these types of issues i am using CloudBacko Software. Try this software for backup and restore.