Hard Drive Storage Advice

Ok so I am building a new computer and one of the main goals of this computer is to be a media server. As a side note I plan on using this computer for gaming as well, but as for storage I primarily concerned with the storage of media.

To give a little back ground on what I have so far and what I hope to accomplish.

MB:ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Case: Thermaltake Level 10 Series Level 10 GTS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

The case has 4 hot swappable spots for hard drives. The reason I went with the ASUS MB was for the integrated WiFi with DNLA support. I like having the ability to stream to my Samsung Note II, my Samsung TV and my Tablet. I just recently purchased a new digital camcorder since we are expecting our first grandchild in a few months. The last time I purchsed a real camcorder it required me to put tapes in it and those I just store on a shelf. With this new camera I want to have an easy way to access the videos from any device in the house and have a fairly fail safe way to store the video.

So what I am looking for is recommendations on HD's. How many and what type of set up for backing up do you guys recommend that will keep my data safe in the event of drive failure. I am also looking for advice in cloud storage recommendations as well. I want to have additional backups in the event of house fire/theft as an example. I plan on digitizing all photos in the house and all old VHS tapes on this computer as well.

Edit: I guess I should say my budget is around $200 but will spend more if needed.

Just as a reminder this computer will be used to play games as well. World of Warcraft and Guild Wars II for now. Sorry so long just wanted to provide as much info as possible to get valuable input.

Thanks Gregg

3570 or 3570K?

For a gaming/file storage rig, you can go with 8GB of RAM, it'll be plenty.

How much space are you looking at having?

Take a look at the storage megathread and read up about RAID, which protects against drive failure: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=712279

RAID offers redundancy, but it is not a replacement for a backup. My NAS in my signature, I have a 3tb hard drive hooked up that is constantly powered down. I have a script that runs every saturday morning that wakes up the drive and backs up my data, and powers it down again. I'm away from my NAS for a while, but when I get back, I plan to build a cheap box that is off site and will backup over SSH. Will be shut off otherwise. I've lost so much data over the years and I'm sick of it. It sucks.

Depending on how big your hard drives are, 3TB externals are available for ~$150. You can easily set it up to back up data on that drive on a routine basis if that is your prerogative.

If your camcorder supports HD, the size of your videos can add up quickly. Storage isn't expensive these days, you can pick up some 1, 2, or 3tb drives and run with that.

One other note. I have a separate drive for the operating system already. These drives would just be for media storage only.

RAID will protect against data loss only as long as only one or two drives (depending on the RAID used) go down. However, if the entire machine goes down due to some kind of disaster, such as a PSU blowing up or a direct lightning hit on the mains, then your data would be toast (literally).

While some kinds will last longer than others, all media, including optical disks, HDDs, the cloud, etc. will eventually fail so it is essential to have multiple backups with at least one kept offsite. If you keep all your backups in the same location as your main machine, disasters, such as theft, fire, storm, curious two year olds, etc. could wipe out all of your data. Having an offsite backup would reduce the amount of loss. The downside of offsite backups is they are usually out of date so local backups are essential to minimize loss.

Since backup media (generally HDDs) is expensive, if cost is an issue, a very bare minimum back up would be to keep a local back up on an external HDD and use a cloud back up like Carbonite for the offsite backup (disclaimer: I do not work for Carbonite, I'm just a reasonably satisfied customer). For only $55/year, Carbonite works in the background automatically uploading new and changed data to their servers. All data is encrypted before it leaves your computer. The main advantages to Carbonite is cost (there is no data limit although they do throttle transmission somewhat after a certain point), it is offsite, data can be retrieved from another computer, and it is more likely to be up-to-date than most forms of backup. The downsides include retrieving more than than a small amount of data will be time consuming (but still better than total loss) and Carbonite only backs up data, not the entire system (such as the OS and programs). If someone is really strapped for cash (face it, we've all been there), I would rather see them use Carbonite only rather than nothing at all.

I have three HDDs I use for back ups for every HDD I have in use; I keep two at home and one in a safe deposit box at my credit union. I swap out the one at the credit union at least once a month. I run a full image with Macrium Reflect every month (just before I install the monthly updates from M$) on each backup HDD, including the one at the credit union, and, anytime I add or change data I can't afford to lose, I run an incremental image on the two local backup HDDs (incremental images are only of the changes since the last full image so they take very little time to run). I also have a Carbonite subscription on my desktop computer (I avoid keeping critical data on my notebook since it's mostly for travel). By having both an offsite HDD and Carbonite, if one should fail, I still will have the other (although I would lose more data with the HDD). also, since it would take days or even weeks to retrieve all my data from Carbonite, I can always use the offsite HDD to quickly retrieve the bulk of my data and get the rest from Carbonite. This all may seem expensive but my data would cost considerably more to replace and much of it is irreplaceable.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I have three HDDs I use for back ups for every HDD I have in use; I keep two at home and one in a safe deposit box at my credit union. I swap out the one at the credit union at least once a month. I run a full image with Macrium Reflect every month (just before I install the monthly updates from M$) on each backup HDD, including the one at the credit union, and, anytime I add or change data I can't afford to lose, I run an incremental image on the two local backup HDDs (incremental images are only of the changes since the last full image so they take very little time to run). I also have a Carbonite subscription on my desktop computer (I avoid keeping critical data on my notebook since it's mostly for travel). By having both an offsite HDD and Carbonite, if one should fail, I still will have the other (although I would lose more data with the HDD). also, since it would take days or even weeks to retrieve all my data from Carbonite, I can always use the offsite HDD to quickly retrieve the bulk of my data and get the rest from Carbonite. This all may seem expensive but my data would cost considerably more to replace and much of it is irreplaceable.

Click to expand...

You must have some data sensitive to national security. There is no reason that a normal user should be swapping out hard drives in a safe deposit box.

I can agree with having an off-site backup, but the fact is that most users weigh their pro/cons associated with the risk of losing their data and come to the conclusion that their data is not that important to warrant so much redundancy in backups.

To your merit though, cloud-based storage is a method that plenty of users are going on these days because it is inexpensive and easy. But a lot of users are doing just fine by having a signal external backing up their data, leaving only two points of failure: their internal hard drive and their external.

By the way, I'm not ridiculing you, obviously you have some data and information that you cannot and will not live without. I just want you to realize that your method is overkill for Average Joe.

Overkill? Maybe a bit but not as much as you think. The safe deposit box is in a fire and theft proof vault and is a convenient and physically safe way to store HHDs offsite; it has nothing to do with the sensitivity of the data. If my house burns down, most of my data will be intact. My Carbonite account also has my data and is more up to date than the HDD at the CU but would take forever to retrieve. Having the two allows me to quickly access most of my data from the HDD and the rest from the slower Carbonite. Many people will store their offsite HDDs at work or at a friend's house (usually under a mutal arrangement) and there is nothing wrong with that. I'm retired and my credit union is only six miles away so using it is more convenient for me. The box costs only $55 a year and I would need one for important papers, etc. anyway so the actual cost for the larger box to accomodate the drives is actually less than half that.

Keep in mind all media will fail eventually. Cloud backups are a convenient for offsite backups but, unless encrypted, are subject to hacking and all cloud storage sites, including the commercial ones, can fail (and it has happened). Free cloud storage is subject to disappearing with little or no notice; many people have lost all their photos that way. The free sites are convenient for temporary backups but one should never put all their eggs in one basket.

HDDs also can fail; the various forums I'm on are littered with tails of woe from people who have lost all their data because they had it on a single drive and it took a dump. That's why redundancy is essential. Multiple local backups reduce the chance of loss due to media failure but other things, such as theft, fire, etc. can easily cause both originals and all local backups to be lost. Hence, the need for off site backups in addition to local ones.

The only paperwork I keep are originals that I absolutely have to have, such as titles, a few receipts for warranties (only the ones that require an original), etc. Everything else is digitized. I'm in the process of scanning all my books to PDFs (I'm a little over halfway done). All my CDs are digitized and the originals will eventually be destroyed due to a lack of storage space. Eventually, all my VHS tapes and DVDs will be digitized and the originals destroyed due to space constraints. Most of my photos are digital and I'll eventually will digitize those that aren't. I can't afford to lose any of that. Hence, the seemingly anal backup measures.

I did mention right off that the minimum for backups is just one local and one offsite backup, something that will serve the average Joe well enough. For someone who is really strapped, a Carbonite account would be better than nothing. $55/year is less than $5 a month. There are very few people who wouldn't be able to afford that and Carbonite would be much safer than free cloud storage. I mentioned my backup system just as an example of what can be done.