give an advice about Backing up the files

[VideoRusher]

hay i need to know about some backup methods for backing up my contents. im a motion graphic designer and video editor. i lost my data twice. one with my backup up hdd which plugged inside my pc. i need some help to keep my footage, contents and other stuffs more safe. any ideas ? im not a huge fan of NAS. so what elz i can do to keep such a big files safe? 

[Oshino Shinobu]

I wouldn't class an internal drive as a backup. It's not separate from the system, so it's still susceptible to power surges, errors and other potential data loss causes.

The level of redundancy you have really depends on how important the files are and how much you're willing to spend. My first bit of advice would be to have data stored on an array with some level of redundancy, then back it up to external drives. If you're willing to spend more, then have multiple backup drives and keep at least one of them off-site, so they're protected from fire, theft and other things that may happen at the location of the other drives and system. An online backup is a good idea, either through a NAS, or by buying/renting online storage. The latter may be expensive if you're storing very large files. 

[VideoRusher]

6 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I wouldn't class an internal drive as a backup. It's not separate from the system, so it's still susceptible to power surges, errors and other potential data loss causes.

The level of redundancy you have really depends on how important the files are and how much you're willing to spend. My first bit of advice would be to have data stored on an array with some level of redundancy, then back it up to external drives. If you're willing to spend more, then have multiple backup drives and keep at least one of them off-site, so they're protected from fire, theft and other things that may happen at the location of the other drives and system. An online backup is a good idea, either through a NAS, or by buying/renting online storage. The latter may be expensive if you're storing very large files. 

online backup is too much expensive. cuz there's lots of footage i have to deal with. and also the internet fee. so i think external drive is a good idea. but is it reliable? 

 

and im currently not stored in a any redundant array. cuz i heard some times if one drives data corrupted its goes to the other one also. so im curious to do it. is it safe to

arrange an redundant array with on board controllers?

[Oshino Shinobu]

11 minutes ago, VideoRusher said:

online backup is too much expensive. cuz there's lots of footage i have to deal with. and also the internet fee. so i think external drive is a good idea. but is it reliable? 

 

and im currently not stored in a any redundant array. cuz i heard some times if one drives data corrupted its goes to the other one also. so im curious to do it. is it safe to

arrange an redundant array with on board controllers?

True, if data is corrupted, it is going to affect both drives in a RAID 1 array, but RAID is primarily designed to prevent data loss, not corruption. If one drive fails, you don't lose the data on that drive. Whether you can setup a RAID array with your board's controllers depends on your board. Most modern boards will support RAID 1 at least. 

No backup solution is completely reliable. The more backups you have, the more reliable it is. External drives is one of the most effective methods that isn't super expensive. 

[VideoRusher]

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

True, if data is corrupted, it is going to affect both drives in a RAID 1 array, but RAID is primarily designed to prevent data loss, not corruption. If one drive fails, you don't lose the data on that drive. Whether you can setup a RAID array with your board's controllers depends on your board. Most modern boards will support RAID 1 at least. 

No backup solution is completely reliable. The more backups you have, the more reliable it is. External drives is one of the most effective methods that isn't super expensive. 

i got asus h170 gamer pro mobo it can run raid0 , 1 , 5 , 10................. but i saw linus's raid cards also went down so i dont know how much longer the mobos handle it............

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, VideoRusher said:

i got asus h170 gamer pro mobo it can run raid0 , 1 , 5 , 10................. but i saw linus's raid cards also went down so i dont know how much longer the mobos handle it............

RAID failure is not a common occurrence. Linus got unlucky, it's not like there's a certain amount of time the RAID controllers last. Also, with RAID 1, even if the RAID controller dies, you don't lose any data, as all of the data is stored on each drive. Linus used (I think) RAID 5, which only works if you have a minimum of 3 drives remaining. So if you can only access one drive, you can't get all of the data, due to how the data is partitioned across drives. With RAID 1, you can access all of the data from a single drive. 

[VideoRusher]

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

RAID failure is not a common occurrence. Linus got unlucky, it's not like there's a certain amount of time the RAID controllers last. Also, with RAID 1, even if the RAID controller dies, you don't lose any data, as all of the data is stored on each drive. Linus used (I think) RAID 5, which only works if you have a minimum of 3 drives remaining. So if you can only access one drive, you can't get all of the data, due to how the data is partitioned across drives. With RAID 1, you can access all of the data from a single drive. 

im asking is it safe to go with on board Raid system. and what drives are the best ??? WD Reds?

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, VideoRusher said:

im asking is it safe to go with on board Raid system. and what drives are the best ??? WD Reds?

Yes, it's safe. RAID cards can be more reliable and have some more features, but for anything decent, you're going to be spending quite a bit. I've been running RAID on my board's controllers for 3 years with no issues. 

WD Reds are a good option for the internal RAID drives. WD Blue or other standard desktop drives would do okay as well, though. 

[VideoRusher]

2 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Yes, it's safe. RAID cards can be more reliable and have some more features, but for anything decent, you're going to be spending quite a bit. I've been running RAID on my board's controllers for 3 years with no issues. 

WD Reds are a good option for the internal RAID drives. WD Blue or other standard desktop drives would do okay as well, though. 

wow thats cool. non of my hdds survives that much long. i think its good to take an external drive as well as build an raid array for more safe. raid 1 does matter the size of the drive?

[Oshino Shinobu]

2 minutes ago, VideoRusher said:

wow thats cool. non of my hdds survives that much long. i think its good to take an external drive as well as build an raid array for more safe. raid 1 does matter the size of the drive?

For RAID 1, it's best to use the same size drives (same models is preferable) If you have a 1TB and a 2TB drive in a RAID 1 array, then you'd only have 1TB of storage, as it will always be the size of the smallest drive. 

 

Basically, go for a drive size you need, then get another one (or more) to add the redundancy part. You can do RAID 1 with 6TB drives if you wanted to, there's no real limit on size. 

[VideoRusher]

 

5 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

For RAID 1, it's best to use the same size drives (same models is preferable) If you have a 1TB and a 2TB drive in a RAID 1 array, then you'd only have 1TB of storage, as it will always be the size of the smallest drive. 

 

Basically, go for a drive size you need, then get another one (or more) to add the redundancy part. You can do RAID 1 with 6TB drives if you wanted to, there's no real limit on size. 

if one drive fails. how do i rebuild my array ??

[Oshino Shinobu]

4 minutes ago, VideoRusher said:

 

if one drive fails. how do i rebuild my array ??

Generally, it's a good idea to backup everything that's on the remaining drive, then add another drive in to the RAID array. Depending on the controller, you may be able to simply add a drive in an it will copy everything over, but some will wipe the drives when creating the array. If you backup the data before, then even if the drive is wiped, you can just copy it back to the new RAID array from the backup. 

To find out more info on the RAID setup and rebuild, it's best to read through your board's manual and technical documentation relating to RAID.