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Is there a good way to deal with backups of one large volume to multiple smaller drives, with regards specifically to figuring out how to replace the contents of one of those backup drives should the need arise? Let me explain: When I first started my Plex server I had media on two HDDs, backed up to 2 more drives of the same capacity, but I got tired of dealing with that 4-drive arrangement. I put all my media on a single 6 TB drive, and used two of the original 3 TB HDDs as backups, but I did this by dumping files on the first drive until it was full, then continuing with the second drive. So the first drive was full and in storage, and I was only ever dealing with the main drive and the current open backup. I realized that if I had to replace the 6 TB drive it would be straightforward by copying from the backups, but if I had to replace one of the older 3 TB drives there would be no good way to determine what files belonged on that drive from the original library, or at least no way that I know of. So is there a way to do what I'm asking here, to use some software to look at the source drive, plus backup drive A, and determine the files not on A that need to go from the source to the new drive B? I replaced those 3 TB drives with a single 6 TB HDD for the backup so the issue isn't nagging at the moment, but I'm going to have to upgrade capacity again in the next year or so. I have tons of older, lower-capacity drives that could be conveniently be repurposed as backups if I could figure out how to make it easier to manage their contents. Any ideas? nielsm posted:My own question: Since nobody addressed this let me offer my thoughts. It sounds like what you've proposed makes sense, but I'd be slightly concerned about eventual damage to one of the rotated drives; hauling drives back and forth every week increases their exposure to shock (both physical, and electrical.) Other than that the only issue I can think of is theft; I'd suggest encrypting the contents just in case. 3.5" drives are cheaper per-capacity than 2.5" drives and are faster too, but the latter are easier to work with (they can run off 5 V and a single USB connector with no additional power supply.) For internal drives, you can get a 2.5" 2 TB for <$100 or a 5 TB 15 mm height (which won't fit in a laptop or regular enclosure) for >$150; 3.5" drive pricing is considered "good" at $20/TB or better. You can also get external drives (i.e. ones that come in their own enclosure and can usually be "shucked" but aren't intended to be) for better prices than internal ones, often: there are 4 TB portable drives from WD, Seagate, for ~$100 (these contain the 15 mm height drives); desktop (3.5", with external PSU) 6 TB drives are often $100, 8 TB as low as ~$120 with sales, and 10 TB for as low as ~$160 (typically the ~monthly sales at BB.) So, depending on your budget and the amount of data you need to backup, I might go with the aforementioned 4 TB portable USB drives for $100. If you have tens of TB to backup however, the way to go would be reasonably-priced 3.5" drives and a heavy-duty carrying case like this. Just note as above, if you're dealing with bare drives that may increase the potential for handling issues, drops (you have to deal with inserting & removing them from an enclosure repeatedly in addition to the normal transportation concerns - also, the SATA connectors aren't rated for a ton of cycles AFAIK) in addition to ESD-related damage.
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Mar 20, 2019 05:13
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 07:51 |
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