Another means of reliable data backup?

[MoPMatrix]

My sister currently has about 100GB of Digital Photos on her PC right now (Pro photographer).

So far I only have her setup with 2x Maxtor 160GBer's in SATA RAID1. And then I do periodic DVD backup's.

But those photos pretty much mean her life, what do you guys think would be the MOST RELIABLE way for another backup besides the RAID1?

I was thinking another HDD in a removable tray (or external encloser) that she could stick in, sync, and then pull out and store in another location in case of lighting / power surge / fire etc.

Or maybe tape drive? I know absolutely zero about these though so I wouldn't know where to start or if they are even used anymore.
What do you guys think?

Also would like to try and stay under about $200

[apu318]

Tape drives actually aren't that bad for backing stuff up. They can store quite a bit of data in a good space, and IMHO, last longer than DVD's or CD's. They were supposed to last for 100 years when there was the CD burning hype, but then research proved otherwise. I have burned CD's from 2-3 years ago that don't work anymore, and they werent even moved for a good 2 years. Went we raided the college dumpster for fans and stuff (they throw out p3s that work sometimes) I found a SCSI tape drive and some tapes that were from like the 80's. I tried them out and there was still data on the tapes that I could copy to my hard-drive. The tapes can be a tad costly though and its a pain in the ass to seek through.

[thefly]

another option would be an external usb2 drive. You can get them up to 300 gigs insize.

That might be useful incase of theft of the pc she has.

Depends how much the data is worth to your sister. If it's really super important, a tape drive might be the best option because you can create as many backups of the data as you want and keep them in different locations without it costing tooo much money.

I've got an sdlt 320 drive at work and it's the bomb. Fast as hell and the tapes can hold 320 gigs. Obviously this is probably way overkill for you. But for me, it's well worth the cash.

[Showstoppermd]

If you are concerned about redundency then move to a raid 5 setup.

[Snugglebear]

RAID1-6 are not backup solutions, they exist to protect you from hardware failure of one or two drives in the array and provide marginal performance enhancements over single drives. As I've said before, RAID will not protect you from accidental file deletion, malicious viruses, flaky controllers, unhappy OSes, data corruption, etc. A true backup solution will be offline most of the time, save during the backup window, and preferrably removable. In the home user's budget range the best options are tapes, DVDs, and removable drives. Tape media is fairly cheap, reusable, but slow, and the drives are expensive. DVDs and CDs fade over time, sometimes are not reusable, but by and large are fairly cheap and decently fast. Removable drives are fast, reusable, but not that cheap and can be flaky.

[SniperXX]

The problem with using tapes is that if they are used alot you will need to replace the tapes every 3-4 months to be safe otherwise you will get CRC errors. I work in IT and did the data backups on multiple servers. Also, tapes are getting fairly cheap, I'd look into them or just an external HD (this will be quicker anyways).

[MoPMatrix]

Thanks for the feedback so far....

And is it just me or are the tape drives REALLY expensive?

And it seems like each drive only works with 1 size tape?
Like if u buy an 80GB tape drive all it can use is 80GB tapes?
Or was I looking at the wrong thing?

[Mr.Guvernment]

another option would be an external usb2 drive. You can get them up to 300 gigs insize.




you can get them larger then 300g. - i have a 320g in a vantex Nexstar 3 HD enclosure - it can handle upto 400g Drives.

i like this idea because you plug in the drive - turn it on - copy over data - turn it off and store it so you then havbe

1. Raid 1
2. DVD
3. HD copies


if all 3 fail @ once then you are cursed.

[Snugglebear]

The problem with using tapes is that if they are used alot you will need to replace the tapes every 3-4 months to be safe otherwise you will get CRC errors. I work in IT and did the data backups on multiple servers. Also, tapes are getting fairly cheap, I'd look into them or just an external HD (this will be quicker anyways).

Those tapes should last through at least a couple thousand duty cycles. Sounds like you guys are doing multiple incrementals each day on the same tapes.

[apu318]

The problem with hard drives for backing up data is they can have alot of mechanical problems. If you drop it and scratch the platters or accidentally discharge static on it, the drive is pretty much dead without paying atleast 500 for data recovery. Tapes arent as heavy so if you drop them, the work you could do is break some plastic in it. I'd say theyre more resilient than hard drives. If you keep them in their case in a cool and dry area, your data is gunna last for a very long time.

Price being mentioned, what's more expensive? An 8.5gb dual layer DVD for 10 bucks or 320gb compressed tape for 40? How long is it gunna take to burn? Wouldn't you rather do it all in one swipe?

[Dukeman]

I would recommend a system for data backup. First understand that only the work, not the apps or OS are what really need backed up. Then use a simple system of External HD for day to day backup of new work and DVD for archiving old work. Use the External HD daily and DVD weekly or monthly as necessary.

The loss of new work would require 3 HDs to fail simultaneously so it is unlikely. You would also want to verify the DVD's occasionally to ensure they are still readable.

[JDXNC]

I would also vote on an external HDD, its gonna be the most simple and cost effective to setup, and she can just plug it in at the end of the day, sync the files on it and unplug it, so then it is immune to anything that happens with the system. She would then have 3 copies of the data and it would be extremely unlikely for all 3 drives to go out at once.

[neonblingbling]

How about storing them online/another computer via network/internet?

[MoPMatrix]

How about storing them online/another computer via network/internet?

She only has 1 PC in her home, and it’s too much for her to bother to move over the net.

I think we are guna go with an external HDD, tape drives are just too expensive.
That or an internal HDD in a 5.5" drive enclose that slides in and out.

[juliendogg]

TAPE DRIVES BLOW!!!

I work for a retail enterprise software development company. Our customers run an active SQL database and backups are of utmost importance. We have been selling / supporting the Iomega REV since it's release. You should DEFINATELY look into that. Higher storage capacity than tapes, more reliable, more convenient. I know you all hear Iomega and think zip (blech). The REV is hard drive technology. The read write heads are housed in the internal or external drive unit, and only the platters exist in the removable disks. This makes them very reliable and sturdy. The disks hold 35/90 GB (35 native, 90 compressed). Excellent product, we've sold hundreds of them, staged to do nightly backups using STOMPS back up my PC. The backup pro software that comes with the rev kinda blows for doing automated backups, but it does work.
Here's a link @ newegg. They can be found for even cheaper if you hunt.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840107133


My 2Cents,

J.

[Mr.Guvernment]

MoPMatrix - i want your avatr - full size :D