Data storage and automatic back-ups

[C_Steve]

Dear PH,

We have data from old PCs stored on multiple formats, including a SeagateMedia drive but it is quite full and I like to find something that:
a) current data can be stored on in one place
b) can be used to automatically to back up existing devices (MacBooks and iPads, iPhones etc, rather than Windows devices)
c) has sufficient capacity or can easily be upgraded in the future.

Is hard drive storage old fashioned now and the cloud is the way to go, or is the case of getting a new hard drive and then having that backed up to the cloud for double protection?

Any advice gratefully received!
Thanks, Steve

[Derek Smith]

C_Steve said:

Dear PH,

We have data from old PCs stored on multiple formats, including a SeagateMedia drive but it is quite full and I like to find something that:
a) current data can be stored on in one place
b) can be used to automatically to back up existing devices (MacBooks and iPads, iPhones etc, rather than Windows devices)
c) has sufficient capacity or can easily be upgraded in the future.

Is hard drive storage old fashioned now and the cloud is the way to go, or is the case of getting a new hard drive and then having that backed up to the cloud for double protection?

Any advice gratefully received!
Thanks, Steve

I use a combination of HDD external storage and the cloud for data. I also have an SSD and HDD used to back up the OS.

Works for me.

[Zirconia]

I spread between hard drives and cloud as well.

Three external hard drives synced and two cloud services. Hard drives managed by backup software and on drive dedicated to Apple Time Machine.


One cloud service will not empty the rubbish until I tell it to and all versions are kept until I tell it too. Very cast iron. iCloud, my other service, is very easy to lose stuff. But very convenient and works across apple devices. It more sharing though than backup.

Edit off site hard drive copy for my personal needs as well.

Edited by Zirconia on Monday 2nd September 19:22

[Penelope Stopit]

C_Steve said:

Is hard drive storage old fashioned now and the cloud is the way to go

No, HDD storage isn't old fashioned

The cloud isn't really a cloud, it's HDD or SSD storage in a strangers building/buildings somewhere in the world that you can get to through cables and fibre optics and things like that using a computer to help

[C_Steve]

Thanks for the replies so far, any suggestions for what hardware and software I should be purchasing?

[Bikerjon]

One of these for local storage/time machine along with an iCloud subscription should get you quite far I reckon.

https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/net...

[Derek Smith]

C_Steve said:

Thanks for the replies so far, any suggestions for what hardware and software I should be purchasing?

I use 3 x HDD enclosures, all switched off until I've completed a virus check and then only on for the uploads. I use various cloud services, including OneDrive, Dropbox, BT. These are synced for two nights each week. I upload to HDD less frequently. I also have a Sabrant bridge which I use for long term storage on older HDDs. Mainly personal stuff. One is a clone from a fresh installation of Win10. I used to regularly update it, but haven't for over 6 months.

I have a Sabrant bridge for my SSD which is the clone for my current desktop, normally completed after a new programme/update loaded or every few months or so.

I use Ashampoo for updates, and have done for years as the UI is simple and straightforward, but use Reflect for cloning, despite buying Acronis some time ago.

I've been accused of being a bit OTT with regards to back up, but not by anyone who, like me, has had two HDD failures, one 'catastrophic', so that I lost a hell of a lot of data, most of which was not backed up. With the other I got most, but by no means all, of my data back but it cost, and that at a time I had to pay out for two new HDDs as I thought that if one had gone, then the other, bought at the same time, was undependable.

I also have a laptop that I save my work to, and transfer it to a USB stick for transfer to my desktop. I don't want to have my cloud services on a portable.

[jjones]

Look at Amazon Web Services Glacier Deep Archive (if you rarely need to access).

Cheap and seriously resilient:

Designed for durability of 99.999999999% of objects across multiple Availability Zones

What Does 11 9s of Durability Mean, Really?
99.999999999% durability of objects over any given year makes cloud storage 1 million times more reliable than Iron Mountain’s physical storage, and without the hazards of getting caught in Boston’s rush hour traffic.

In other words, if you gave AWS 1 million files to store, statistically they would lose one file every 659,000 years. You are about 411 times more likely to get hit by a meteor.


Lowest cost storage class designed for long-term retention of data that will be retained for 7-10 years
Ideal alternative to magnetic tape libraries
Retrieval time within 12 hours

[C_Steve]

Bikerjon said:

One of these for local storage/time machine along with an iCloud subscription should get you quite far I reckon.

https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/net...

Thanks, Steve

[Zirconia]

I am only familiar with what I need and use, meaning I have no idea what else is out there. What are you using it for and what on?

Might help with suggestions.

[C_Steve]

Zirconia said:

I am only familiar with what I need and use, meaning I have no idea what else is out there. What are you using it for and what on?

Might help with suggestions.

I think this is explained in my original thread - what other information do you need?
Thanks, Steve

[Zirconia]

C_Steve said:

I think this is explained in my original thread - what other information do you need?
Thanks, Steve

Apols.


Business or personal. And I assume mac only or is it sharing PC and Mac?

Level of risk as in stuff you can get back easily vs stuff you cannot lose. Mine is all personal, when I was working they had a different business process in place and I had no control over it, lots of data retention stuff regulations and so on, a whole department looked after that but different to my personal plan.

[Penelope Stopit]

4 TB of data takes up no room, can be easily stored off site as well as in a jacket or trouser pocket

Cloud storage = Burnt money as far as I'm concerned and there is no guarantee that your cloud data can be retrieved when needed, companies do often go out of business at short notice.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76...

[Zirconia]

Penelope Stopit said:

4 TB of data takes up no room, can be easily stored off site as well as in a jacket or trouser pocket

Cloud storage = Burnt money as far as I'm concerned and there is no guarantee that your cloud data can be retrieved when needed, companies do often go out of business at short notice.

It is part of a larger plan, it is not 100% hence a physical local backup (3 hard drives and a 4th off site for me). Hard drives fail, computers fail, networks fail, faraway places fail. The person using needs to gauge the level of risk they are prepared to accept.

The SSD in your link is silly money for my needs, I use the spinning type and 4tb around 90 notes. 6tb are a decent price now.
Might be of some use.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-q2...

I bought one seagate desktop and despite it using USB3 is was slow as hell, careful what you buy as well. Not all hard drive are as fast as each other that come cased.

Cloud storage wise you need to work out if you are happy your info is sent clear. Does the company have zero knowledge. Draw back is if I lose the password, I lose the lot. Barring the perfect storm of failure, I just re upload the data. Problem with local encryption before transmission is it is slow for the initial bulk upload.

The application encrypts the information on my computer with my key before sending it to the servers. It is de duplicated, and will not empty trash unless I tell it too. Others auto delete. It will not remove any versions unless I tell it to, others auto delete after a while.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online...

Really is up to the user.

For my Mac I use Carbon Copy Cloner to manage the drives. Time Machine for one drive and all drives encrypted. iCloud is more of a sharing service and os handy but the unwary can lose stuff quite easily. Advantage is I can access files on iPhone, iPad or desktop running the latest Mac OS.

I tried a single case NAS once and the controller failed. Turned it into a doorstop. Took the hard drive out and stuffed it in a caddy.

[deckster]

Penelope Stopit said:

4 TB of data takes up no room, can be easily stored off site as well as in a jacket or trouser pocket

Cloud storage = Burnt money as far as I'm concerned and there is no guarantee that your cloud data can be retrieved when needed, companies do often go out of business at short notice.

You quite literally couldn't be more wrong. Any storage strategy that doesn't include a large element of cloud isn't a storage strategy.

[RizzoTheRat]

Bear in mind a copy of your data stored in your house isn't really a backup, if your house burns down you lose both the original computer and the copy. I make a local copy on a NAS which protects me from the PC hard drive crashing, and then make periodic copies on a USB drive and leave it at work. I also have some stuff on Dropbox, which isn't really considered a proper backup but gives another way to recover anything really important. That's sufficient for my needs at home where I'm only really worried about backups of photos and periodically updated stuff like my tax returns, but for business use you'd want a more regular backup approach.


Cloud storage eliminates the home burning down risk, but costs you a subscription so depends how much you value the frequency of your backups.

[C_Steve]

A lot of useful things for me to think about, thanks.

The data is purely personal data and is predominantly photos which are not currently stored anywhere else.
The existing backup data has been taken from PC, but new data will all be Mac / iPhone / iPad based, so I need to ensure I can identify both separately.

Thanks, Steve

[Zirconia]

Mac has a good program called Photo's. With iCloud it will sync across the lot. Being one (or more) library to back up on however many options you choose. Apple also has time machine that is very good.

Got around 40,000 pics and vids and it handles them well. Editing is not bad either.

[Penelope Stopit]

Zirconia said:

Penelope Stopit said:

4 TB of data takes up no room, can be easily stored off site as well as in a jacket or trouser pocket

Cloud storage = Burnt money as far as I'm concerned and there is no guarantee that your cloud data can be retrieved when needed, companies do often go out of business at short notice.

It is part of a larger plan, it is not 100% hence a physical local backup (3 hard drives and a 4th off site for me). Hard drives fail, computers fail, networks fail, faraway places fail. The person using needs to gauge the level of risk they are prepared to accept.

The SSD in your link is silly money for my needs, I use the spinning type and 4tb around 90 notes. 6tb are a decent price now.
Might be of some use.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-q2...

I bought one seagate desktop and despite it using USB3 is was slow as hell, careful what you buy as well. Not all hard drive are as fast as each other that come cased.

Cloud storage wise you need to work out if you are happy your info is sent clear. Does the company have zero knowledge. Draw back is if I lose the password, I lose the lot. Barring the perfect storm of failure, I just re upload the data. Problem with local encryption before transmission is it is slow for the initial bulk upload.

The application encrypts the information on my computer with my key before sending it to the servers. It is de duplicated, and will not empty trash unless I tell it too. Others auto delete. It will not remove any versions unless I tell it to, others auto delete after a while.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online...

Really is up to the user.

For my Mac I use Carbon Copy Cloner to manage the drives. Time Machine for one drive and all drives encrypted. iCloud is more of a sharing service and os handy but the unwary can lose stuff quite easily. Advantage is I can access files on iPhone, iPad or desktop running the latest Mac OS.

I tried a single case NAS once and the controller failed. Turned it into a doorstop. Took the hard drive out and stuffed it in a caddy.

Agree, the price is high, used it as an example, spinners are my choice

Going to check out some of the bigger drives that you mention above, don't need and can't be spending money on any at the moment but............

[Penelope Stopit]

deckster said:

Penelope Stopit said:

4 TB of data takes up no room, can be easily stored off site as well as in a jacket or trouser pocket

Cloud storage = Burnt money as far as I'm concerned and there is no guarantee that your cloud data can be retrieved when needed, companies do often go out of business at short notice.

You quite literally couldn't be more wrong. Any storage strategy that doesn't include a large element of cloud isn't a storage strategy.

Mmmmm right or wrong doesn't come into it

Opinions, methods used and suggestions do