Storage Devices Poll and Discussions

[holidaydom]

I'm really old school.

I don't use photo browser programs and I organise everything into catagory folders in Windows.

All these are in my one big "photo" folder which gets backed up everytime there are new files added.

Once a month - I back things up to by two 40GB Ext. HDDs

And when time permits, I do a mega backup to my 100GB and 320GB Ext. HDDs.

I've stopped backing up to DVDs cos my folders are just too big and I'm just lazy.

Like I said, I'm old school and I don't trust those 1-click backup softward wizzard thingys... ;p I backup by transfering folders from my PC to my ext HDDs by the "copy and paste" method. :bsmilie:

 

[NikonOnly]

I would backup the photos to an external disk and occasionally (every 6 months) would archive to the DVDR. In case external disk failed or corrupted, still have DVDR. If you kiasu, you can always store the DVDR in a different location like parent's place or office (aka like DR site in the IT world).

 

[major_tom]

for me, I backup my image files in a no. of places:

1. My 2nd PC
2. My macbook
3. my portable hdd
4. on DVDs
5. my NAS - raid 0

Yes, I make sure I sync them regularly so that I have 5 copies at any1 time....super kiasu/kiasi :bsmilie:

 

[gohaj]

for me, I backup my image files in a no. of places:

1. My 2nd PC
2. My macbook
3. my portable hdd
4. on DVDs
5. my NAS - raid 0

Yes, I make sure I sync them regularly so that I have 5 copies at any1 time....super kiasu/kiasi :bsmilie:

wow...u win liao!

 

[splim]

To those who use:

Hardisk (RAID 0) in enclosures. Put enclosures aside after filling up.

I hope you know what you are doing...

RAID 0 has no redundancy, it is usually used to improved performance, to store temp files, swap files, etc... any files that can be trashed.

RAID 0 requires min 2 hdd, and your chance of failure that cause lost of data is 2 (the no. of disks you have in the raid 0) as compared to 1 with single disk storage.

If you do not have another copy somewhere, better do something before it's too late.

 

[NMSS_2]

I am not IT savvy. So, curious to know whether this RAID thing cost a lot and issit a DIY setup or can buy off the shelf? If affordable and easy to manage, maybe I will switch to this kind of storage one day.

RAID 0 is for speed. you might be looking at RAID 1, RAID 3?, RAID 5 or RAID 10 solutions. i only know what is RAID 0 and RAID 1 as the rest of the solutions are too "redundant" for me (doesn't serve my needs and too costly). Have a read first before deciding on which solution you might want and whether are you going for card based or external storage type.

 

[microcosm]

For those who backs up to DVD discs :

1. Have you tried reading from those discs recently?
2. How many discs are already backed up till today?
3. Do you make backup copies of the DVDs? (this means you have 2 DVDs with the same contents)

This is getting messy...

I just had a batch of DVDs died on me... I am freaking out a little.

 

[major_tom]

For those who backs up to DVD discs :

1. Have you tried reading from those discs recently?
2. How many discs are already backed up till today?
3. Do you make backup copies of the DVDs? (this means you have 2 DVDs with the same contents)

This is getting messy...

I just had a batch of DVDs died on me... I am freaking out a little.

what dvds do you use? I use taiyo-yuden (TY) discs which I get them from US.
IThese are premium grade discs and MOs are also being done by HWZers.
To answer yr question, no I have enuf backups liao no need to back up my DVD backups

 

[microcosm]

what dvds do you use? I use taiyo-yuden (TY) discs which I get them from US.
IThese are premium grade discs and MOs are also being done by HWZers.
To answer yr question, no I have enuf backups liao no need to back up my DVD backups

Yup, after a faulty batch of archive grade DVDs, I now back up to harddisks and DVDs, instead of relying on just DVDs like I did in the past. Thankfully the lost images were nothing important... kind of...

 

[giantcanopy]

Harddisk and DVDRs for me.

No poll option for Blue-Ray ?


Ryan

 

[microcosm]

Harddisk and DVDRs for me.

No poll option for Blue-Ray ?


Ryan

Blue-Ray's still DVDs aren't they?

 

[eosxxD]

I have 2 Internal Harddisk (Separate from Operating System) and 1 External USB Hard disk.

I backup to both internal drives one after the other, external hard disk once a month.


I use this tool from Microsoft called SyncToy to synchronize Pictures folders only, you could also synchronize other folders.

Till date I have not backed up to DVD media. After reading this thread i will backup from this week!

RAID 1 with DVD media backup would be a good choice

 

[microcosm]

Continue to share the ideas and experiences everyone, and thanks major, for sharing with me the brand of archival DVDs that you are using. Looks like it is a good alternative for disc based backups.

Currently, my thoughts would be backing up in this manner for images :

-> RAID 0 - Working drive with images (1TB or higher)

-> External HDD - Backup of images from RAID 0 drive
(different batch/brand of harddisk on RAID 0 drive)

-> DVD archive (file and forget until needed)

So technically I have three backup copies on 2 different types of technology.

 

[eosxxD]

Continue to share the ideas and experiences everyone, and thanks major, for sharing with me the brand of archival DVDs that you are using. Looks like it is a good alternative for disc based backups.

Currently, my thoughts would be backing up in this manner for images :

-> RAID 0 - Working drive with images (1TB or higher)

-> External HDD - Backup of images from RAID 0 drive
(different batch/brand of harddisk on RAID 0 drive)

-> DVD archive (file and forget until needed)

So technically I have three backup copies on 2 different types of technology.

RAID 0 is not to be used for Backup solution, its only used to increase the performance or storage space, if you are into Video editing then this option offers performance and storage.
example if you have 2 500GB hard disks when configured as raid 0 the total available space will be approximately 1TB. if either one of the drive fails your data will be lost!

When you configure 2 500GB as RAID 1, the total available space will be 500GB
as one of the Disk will be used to mirror(COPY), if one of the drive fails, just replace the faulty drive, the data will be automatically mirrored from the working drive to the new drive.
if both drives then you will loose everything.

RAID can be configured both using Software and Hardware, i would prefer to use
hardware based RAID.

the more expensive option will be RAID 5, which is mainly used for Servers.

Hope this helps, if you need more info you could find here
http://www.raid.com/04_00.html

This looks like a good choice for backup, if you are not so hands on.
http://www.maxtorsolutions.com/en/catalog/OTIII_Turbo/index.html

or

Sim Lim Square shop named Storage Studio sells external RAID boxes, with this
you could choose your own Hard disk size.

 

[microcosm]

I have noted a few things in this thread that made me think a little more :

1. There aren't that many who are very concerned about storage and backups for the long term. Why? Most of your images are not important to you? Or you have already made prints and therefore "the film can go?"

2. There are many brands of external harddisk enclosures out there, priced so dramatically different and yet not much is being shared about them. What is the brand you have the best and worse experience?

3. Brands of harddisk. Which are the ones that worked best for you?

4. .ORF files (RAW) There have been slightly different .ORF files over the years as models of cameras are added into the Olympus range of cameras, and yet there aren't that many discussion on how these files are stored and ensured that the archived versions can be read by whatever RAW converter software is being used.

5. TIFF or JPG in archive other than RAW?

Give it a thought about saving and archiving your digital files especially those who have taken pictures of their family, weddings, important events, holidays, etc. Share your views on them.

 

[Mikefellh]

Hard drive storage is getting so cheap now...the other day I was at Costco/Price Club, and as you walked in there was a display of external hard drives, but the one that caught my eye was a 2TB (2000GB) unit that connected via a network cable, and it was selling for the equivalent of $680SGD. I still remember paying twice that for a 90mb drive.

 

[Octarine]

When you configure 2 500GB as RAID 1, the total available space will be 500GB
as one of the Disk will be used to mirror(COPY), if one of the drive fails, just replace the faulty drive, the data will be automatically mirrored from the working drive to the new drive.
if both drives then you will loose everything.

It depends on your overall setup and the used management software whether the data will be mirrored again automatically. Mostly it needs some manual interaction.

RAID can be configured both using Software and Hardware, i would prefer to use
hardware based RAID.
the more expensive option will be RAID 5, which is mainly used for Servers.

RAID5 has a different intention than RAID1, but you are right: it's mainly used in servers. RAID5 offers a more sophisticated approach of redundancy and offers a higher net capacity. Roughly 80% of the raw capacity are usable finally. But it needs at least 3 hard disks to start with.
The question of hardware / software RAID I would also consider as less important. It doesn't need a hardware RAID controller, good Operating Systems offer already tools to create mirrors (Linux Software RAID, LVM) and RAID arrays. For home usage we can easily skip the question of performance here, it is unlikely that somebody with a home storage (and normal usage) will reach the performance limits.

Finally it boils down to the same old question of what is really needed. USB and Firewire are fast but only usable with a single computer at once time. Gigabit Ethernet is slower but the storage can be integrated into home networks and can be shared among other computers. (Don't forget the security here, many people have wireless systems at home with either no safety measurements or just silly standard settings.) Also, future growth need to be considered. Some external boxes can house 4 disks, providing space for extension. If a two-disks-box runs out of space you can only replace both disks in one go. But you'll need extra space somewhere for the data migration.

BUT: All this only covers the question of data storage and how to prevent data loss at this level. The question of backup is still unanswered. RAID is not a backup technology.

 

[microcosm]

It depends on your overall setup and the used management software whether the data will be mirrored again automatically. Mostly it needs some manual interaction.



RAID5 has a different intention than RAID1, but you are right: it's mainly used in servers. RAID5 offers a more sophisticated approach of redundancy and offers a higher net capacity. Roughly 80% of the raw capacity are usable finally. But it needs at least 3 hard disks to start with.
The question of hardware / software RAID I would also consider as less important. It doesn't need a hardware RAID controller, good Operating Systems offer already tools to create mirrors (Linux Software RAID, LVM) and RAID arrays. For home usage we can easily skip the question of performance here, it is unlikely that somebody with a home storage (and normal usage) will reach the performance limits.

Finally it boils down to the same old question of what is really needed. USB and Firewire are fast but only usable with a single computer at once time. Gigabit Ethernet is slower but the storage can be integrated into home networks and can be shared among other computers. (Don't forget the security here, many people have wireless systems at home with either no safety measurements or just silly standard settings.) Also, future growth need to be considered. Some external boxes can house 4 disks, providing space for extension. If a two-disks-box runs out of space you can only replace both disks in one go. But you'll need extra space somewhere for the data migration.

BUT: All this only covers the question of data storage and how to prevent data loss at this level. The question of backup is still unanswered. RAID is not a backup technology.

This really caught my eye... so you mean, the best method of backing up is still making manual copies from HDD to HDD as it grows?

This thread is getting very educational and I am learning more... thank you.

 

[splim]

This really caught my eye... so you mean, the best method of backing up is still making manual copies from HDD to HDD as it grows?

This thread is getting very educational and I am learning more... thank you.

:think: Let's put it this way... You make duplicate or more copies of your files on different devices right ? So, you already have RAID 1 at least.... and you, yourself, is the RAID controller.. Got it

So everyone here, somehow, practicing their own way of "RAID"....... In a way that it is not persistent, sometime lazy to make another copy :bsmilie:

 

[onedollar]

Wondering how many of you understand the advantages of using RAID storage solutions or multibay (hotswappable) solutions? Anyone using this at home?

For RAID storage actually you need to hook up 2 similar harddisk onto the RAID connectors. And setup the RAID relationship in the RAID BIOS. Anything you do to the husband should be relatively updated to the WIFE at the same time(automatically). In an event that the husband is dead, the widow still contain the memory of the husband. At this time you can try to clone what even inside the widow to save the husband, or bury the husband and evolve the widow into a husband and get him a new wife. Sound crappy, that's all I understand about RAID.