For manual monthly backup, would you...

[wrenaudrey]

Im wanting to buy a total of 2TB of storage HDD for storing important pictures, music and for general back up purposes which're going to be stored externally from the actual rig.

As my case(Switch 810) originally had a built in hot-swappable bay, i removed it when i first built my PC. I thought i'd install it back and use it for hot-swapping these internal storage drives im going to buy.

But i cant make up my mind which storage config to go for:
1. 2x 1TB WD Blue(internal drives)
2. 1x 2TB WD (internal drives)
3. 1x 2TB WD My Book(external)

Both 1 and 2 will be using the hot-swappable bay in my case.
My reason for 1. is that both drives will be filled with the same files but if one of the drive fails, i still have one drive that has everything. It's like Raid 1 but manually done.
My reason for 2. is purely for the price, one bigger drive is obviously cheaper. The downside is if it fails, you lose everything.
My reason for 3. is it's easy, plug and play, interchangeable to other systems/devices and its same price to 1. But the downside is same as 2.

So what d'you guys think?
Thanks as usual

 

[remember300]

If its just 2tb id just go down the NAS route tbh if you want WD look up their my clouds.

Can get a 2tb around the 125 mark i believe but it depends where you wanna buy from. Where i work has the 2tb at 125 the 3 at about 150 and the 4tb at about 170.

just thought it might be less hassle plus everyone you want in the home can access it
plus you can add when ever you want and scheduled up dates too

 

[SPS]

Purely for backup I'd go with option 2. Backing up to 2 separate drives seems overkill to me - the odds of the backup and storage drive both dying within the same time period has got to be unlikely.

I am assuming that when you refer to backup, it is a bespoke backup system using something like Acronis True Image and not just copying of files. If you are referring to just copying files then I wouldn't advise you to do that as it would be so time consuming.

Using a NAS as a backup doesn't make sense to me, unless you're using it to backup another NAS. It would seem a waste of money to have files duplicated on your local and network storage, either use it as a central storage location or don't bother IMO.

 

[wrenaudrey]

NAS' are expensive and i havent really looked deeply into them. Adding to that, i am bad with networking, i have the stock VM SuperHub for example haha

As with buying and using Acronis True Image, i really dont like buying stuff if there's an alternative to it, like copying manually, i know its time consuming but it's the most organized way i know of doing things.

As going with option 2. The only drive im thinking of getting at that capacity is a 2TB WD Green. I've previouly bought 2x 1TB Greens and tried copying 88GB(~24k files/items) and was getting horrendous write speeds, <10MB/s. So i returned those and borrowed my brother's 1TB Blue, tried copying the same files(~24k items) and it was able to sustain >35MB/s.

Any other thoughts guys?

 

[SPS]

As with buying and using Acronis True Image, i really dont like buying stuff if there's an alternative to it, like copying manually, i know its time consuming but it's the most organized way i know of doing things.

As going with option 2. The only drive im thinking of getting at that capacity is a 2TB WD Green. I've previouly bought 2x 1TB Greens and tried copying 88GB(~24k files/items) and was getting horrendous write speeds, <10MB/s. So i returned those and borrowed my brother's 1TB Blue, tried copying the same files(~24k items) and it was able to sustain >35MB/s.

Any other thoughts guys?

I personally don't understand this at all. People tend to shy away from purchasing software, granted, if the free alternative is anywhere near as good as the paid option then that makes sense. If you're serious about backing up files then you need a decent software package to do it effectively.

True image is around £30 and once you have it, you don't need to buy it again. Just bite the bullet and invest in something worthwhile. I know there are other backup software packages available but I've used true image for years without an issue. You can also use WD Greens just fine with this method.

 

[SnowmanFromHell]

If the files are super-important go with a RAID1, otherwise a single drive should be enough.
I'd personally prefer an internal drive because of the higher speed, but if you plan to move the files between computers or want to share them with others an external drive is obviously more convenient.
As for software: have a look at a program called Unison, it might save you some time... and it's free, so you can just give it a try

 

[notcool]

I just use a MyBook 2TB and manually copy Steam and everything else from my other drives, works for me. Maybe on my next rig I'll buy 2 1TB WD Velociraptors and Raid 1 them...