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Consolidating multiple backup hard drives?


Vekked

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I've come to realize that over the years I've acquired quite a few back up hard drives/externals. I think I have 2 x 1TB, a couple 500ish, and a couple smaller. So probably around 3TB total assuming some aren't completely full. I want to consolidate them so I'm not looking across 6 different hard drives for stuff or losing stuff.

 

Can I get some sort of cloud storage and do it that way? What's the best options for cloud storage for that amount of data?

 

Should I have a physical backup as well? Or is a cloud sufficient?

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I have a 3 TB external drive that I store an image of all my other drives on every few weeks using macrium reflect. Steve got me on macrium a while ago, its real easy to copy multiple hard drives with it.

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Guest rasteri

Problem with that much data in the cloud is getting it there in the first place, if you have access to a very fast connection somewhere then you might be OK. I think there are services that you can send a hard drive to but I've never used them

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You could always get a NAS box with a couple of HDDs, transfer everything onto it, organise your data into a sensible structure and then free up your external drives to do what you want with, like dedicate one of them to music files, etc. You can also access your data offsite but it involves a bit of config.

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I got a standalone 3TB external drive for this reason - but is overkill really as I only use 0.5TB. I keep meaning to dump my CD rips at least onto OneDrive but haven't got around to doing it - I remember calculating on a 10MBit upload it was gonna take a while.

My main PC has a 500GB SSD and a 4TB mechanical. I use Macrium Reflect too - every month the SSD gets backed up to the mechanical, then the mechanical to the external.

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I think it's worth having a local and cloud backup if you can.

 

I run a similar setup to Deft. I have a 128GB SSD and a 4TB HDD in my PC. The SSD gets imaged to the HDD with Macrium Reflect, then I use Cobian Backup to mirror the HDD to a 4TB external HDD. The external is only connected to the PC when the backup is run. I also have files that I really don't want to lose (photos, work in progress music/mixing projects) backed up via OneDrive.

 

I would say it's definitely worth backing up everything to the cloud if you can though. If you do, pick a service that's particularly resilient to ransomware that encrypts data.

 

I think it's worth keeping a local backup cos it can sometimes be more convenient to access files from there, plus having your data backed up in 2 different locations means it's more secure.

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I also have files that I really don't want to lose (photos, work in progress music/mixing projects) backed up via OneDrive.

 

Do you ever run into any sync problems with the OneDrive client?

 

We have to support the OneDrive for Business client at work and it causes no end of problems where it gets stuck syncing files. It really starts to get messy when you can't tell what has been backed up and what hasn't.

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This thread has spurred me on to get my shit on OneDrive. I am now on day 3 of constant uploading at 10Mbit, cranking through at about 100 GB/day. Only got about 400 GB in total I need backing up (only!).

joeClockwork - I googled some things about OneDrive before I started the mega upload, and on my travels it seems like historically at least - maybe still, the OneDrive for business client is quite different to the standard home client. It uses some Sharepoint nonsense in the background and has/had quite a few additional restrictions like filepath length, total number of files etc. Might explain the hassle you have seen. I'm stuffing about 30,000 files on the home OneDrive and no issues so far.

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This thread has spurred me on to get my shit on OneDrive. I am now on day 3 of constant uploading at 10Mbit, cranking through at about 100 GB/day. Only got about 400 GB in total I need backing up (only!).

joeClockwork - I googled some things about OneDrive before I started the mega upload, and on my travels it seems like historically at least - maybe still, the OneDrive for business client is quite different to the standard home client. It uses some Sharepoint nonsense in the background and has/had quite a few additional restrictions like filepath length, total number of files etc. Might explain the hassle you have seen. I'm stuffing about 30,000 files on the home OneDrive and no issues so far.

 

That sounds like a bind!

 

Thanks for the info. OneDrive for Business put me off using OneDrive altogether but if the ordinary client is OK, I'll give that a go and stick everything in the cloud.

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  • 6 months later...

Finally got around to proper backups. Got a 2TB external to back up all my other drives, and signed up for Crash Plan to back that up.

 

Problem with that much data in the cloud is getting it there in the first place, if you have access to a very fast connection somewhere then you might be OK. I think there are services that you can send a hard drive to but I've never used them

This is my life right now, lol, been uploading for 3-4 days straight and another few weeks to go until it's all on there. Once it's up I should be good though because it will only be backing up a few gigs here and there.

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You could always get a NAS box with a couple of HDDs, transfer everything onto it, organise your data into a sensible structure and then free up your external drives to do what you want with, like dedicate one of them to music files, etc. You can also access your data offsite but it involves a bit of config.

 

I had the same problem and this was my planned solution. Then I fucking formatted an entire TB drive trying to set it up and it was noisy so I said fuck it. Just sits in the corner.

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I use backblaze. I can't remember why, but there was a reason I picked them above Crashplan.

I just changed hard drives for my MUSIC from a 1 TB to a 2TB so i've got to upload it all again. I only back up my music drive and my internal SSD in my macbook, I've got another 6 or 7TBs of movies and shows and shit on different externals, but don't really have the bandwidth or time to upload them at the minute.

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You could always get a NAS box with a couple of HDDs, transfer everything onto it, organise your data into a sensible structure and then free up your external drives to do what you want with, like dedicate one of them to music files, etc. You can also access your data offsite but it involves a bit of config.

 

I had the same problem and this was my planned solution. Then I fucking formatted an entire TB drive trying to set it up and it was noisy so I said fuck it. Just sits in the corner.

 

 

Ah, that's a shame. I always thought one of the pros of getting a NAS is that it's supposed to be nice and quiet.

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Probably should be but mine was an old Precision workstation running Linux so it was louder I expect than something designed specifically for it. Or if I had a closet to stick it in would be perfect.

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