[nlambert]

I have around 2TB of videos, and it would really suck if I lost all the time I put into building that library.

I am assuming that a cloud solution would be out of my reach due to cost/bandwidth, but I am open to ideas.

I am willing to spend a few hundred bucks... I don't really want to build a server farm

What are your setups like?

[Roby77]

Nas with 6tb (jbod) plus external drive and i manual backup the most important film to an 3tb external disk located in other room
If go away for holidays i take that disk with me to avoid data lost cause a thief or anything else

For personal documents i use dropbox

[kellyshaw]

You can try this site, it write "With up to 50GB of free space, you can use MediaFire to backup all your important files—and even your not-so-important ones too. Your files are stored securely and privately and are always available to you." http://www.mediafire.com/

[skylarking]

I rip my own disks and then place the disks in boxes for safe storage (which i consider to be my backups). As such i'm not too concerned if one of my HDD dies as i will simply pull out the original disks and re rip the main movies.

Currently i have 8TB (2T + 2T + 4T) of USB based HDD's which are quickly filling up as i continue to scan my disk collection Quite some time invested in this too

So if you don't want to consider your DVD/BDs as backups, the simplest approach is to buy another big HDD. Put this HDD into an eSata enclosure and installed an eSata cards into your PC (if you don't already have such a port). Then it's simply to connect the enclosure to your PC and copy your 2TB of movies & metadata across to this HDD. It will take a while to complete but when done, safely disconnect the HDD and store the enclosure in a cupboard (or off site) for safe keeping. Periodically take the enclosure out and update the contents via simple "copy without replace" which should make it a fuss free and quicker activity than the initial one. And if either of the HDDs fail, you have the other HDD to use as source (to make another backup or put in you HTPC).

In terms of HDD longevity, i'd periodically replace each HDD every 3 or 4 years (newer bigger supposedly better) so i've got lots of HDDs lying around. I pull then apart and take use the drive magnets on my fridge...
I've only ever had one HDD failure (which had some rather important data on it but not worth the $2000 to recover).

Today, a 3TB HDD is ~$150, a 4TB is a little more. An esata enclosure is ~$50 while an esata card and cable for your PC should be ~$20. I'd get a 4TB HDD and enclosure as this will give you some headroom for future expansion...

Just remember a (u)RAID based server is a good solution for data up-time or availability problems but (u)RAID is no substitute for a good backup strategy.

---

Oh, and i should say that cloud based solutions make you dependant on another party. There has already been situations where people have lost their data when 'cloud providers' go belly up or are raided by the feds.

If you want to be in control of your data, then keep it and your backups in your possesion and your head out of the clouds...

[z31fanatic]

I have a WD NAS and I use Raid 1. Two 4TB drives that mirror each other. Plus I have a 4TB external hard drive that has the same files as the NAS. I keep the external as a backup in case both drives in the NAS fail.

[tboggie]

You might be interested in this thread

Do you backup your data? http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...your+video

[Opal76]

I prefer Ahsay software for backup. it is basically designed for managed service providers (MSPs) to provide online backup service to their customers. I am used this services last few months and very happy with this software. I think it is best software for backup.

[Wolly]

A WD MyCloud 4TB is the best choice for you I think.
It has an easy UI and the HDD is the WD Red NAS Hard Drive.
You can also backup your system (Win or Mac) to this machine.
It has an USB 3.0 port, which can be used to connect more external hard drive if you have an USBHub (with separate power supply )

[RockerC]

Maybe look into get one of Seagate's new "Archive HDD" in a USB 3.0 chassi if you're looking to to backup a lot of data

http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/products/en...chive-hdd/

They is suppose to be among the most cost-effectively harddrives for storing a large amount of active archive data.

Today they have 5TB, 6TB, 8TB models in a single 3,5-inch harddrive, but not sure the price:

ST5000AS0011 = 5 TB
ST6000AS0002 = 6 TB
ST8000AS0002 = 8 TB

[00b5]

Wait, you only have 2TB of files, and you want to make a backup?

Just buy an external 2TB hdd, copy them all to it, and store it away? Bring it back out once a month and refresh it?

You certainly don't need a server farm.

Its best for you to make your backup on a different type of medium (usually this means don't rely on DVDs only, use some blu rays, or hdds, or flash, etc). I think HDD to HDD is probably fine, where else are you going to get 2TB of space?. Then, its best to store that backup somewhere else, like your parents house or something, in case you house burns down to the ground. Finally, if you can make a 3rd copy (online/another hdd/etc) then you truly have a good backup system going.

But ya, just get an usb 2/3/4TB hdd and copy it all to it, and store it somewhere safe.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheCompute...Three.aspx

[DJ_Izumi]

Hope, mostly.

[shabuboy]

- My NAS has all my movie files
- Of those, there is about 400gb of movies I REALLY want to keep. I make multiple copies of those to a PC and an external HD.
- Could care less for all other movies

[roveer]

My movie collection is about the same size. I stream all of my video content (Movies & TV shows) from a Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 6 that is in my basement along side my network switches and router. Attached to it is a 3TB drive that I occasionally backup the video content as well as my pictures and music to. In addition to that I use Crashplan Pro to backup the entire 3.5TB NAS to cloud storage in the case of a disaster at my home.

NAS with Redundant Drives +
Copy on another HD +
Cloud Backup

I'm pretty comfortable that my data can be restored should something happen.

Roveer

[00b5]

Hope, mostly.

Ha, I had to quote this for truth. I do store my media on a NAS (unRAID) so it does have "redundancy", but no real backup. So my "backup" for all that, ahem, media, is in fact hope for me as well!

I do actually want to build a newer lower power/faster NAS, and then i'd use the current one as a backup for real, but that requires $$$ my kids otherwise want to spend on their stuff (little bastards )

[ikecomp]

Depends on your definition of backup. A true backup should be something that's kept offsite and/or in the cloud.

However, I think most people are really just referring to what happens if a drive fails in their machine. I personally use a product called flexraid to recover from failed disks. It basically does parity calculations and takes snapshots of all your data and can restore your data if there is ever a failure. The best part is that your disks don't have to be formatted to some proprietary format and can easily be replaced or removed to another machine.

If you want something more in the free zone that practically does the same thing you can check Snapraid.

Those solutions might be considered overkill for you right now but once you get 2 or more disks filled with media it's probably good to start looking into solutions like above.