After a long long time thinking about the "best" way to organise my file storage needs (see thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/nas-buying-advice.1975432/#post-23394182).... and neglecting my backups as I was running out of space....the unthinkable happened:
My car got broken into, and a HDD with personal and professional data spanning 10-15 years stolen - with NO backup. (not talking about the rest that was stolen, grrrrr)
Luckily, I was able to retrieve the data as I had the content on my company's network a couple of years ago, and they were able to recover it. What a lucky son of a .... I have been, this will certainly be a lesson learned....
Now I am more than ever motivated to sort out my storage needs ASAP:
What I got at the moment is roughly:
I do expect a growth of approx 250-300GB per year (photographs over the past few years are 150GB per year, and I would like to get more into video)
I was intending to get a 4bay NAS to store it all, I was painfully reminded that a NAS is also not a backup solution and I need more redundancy.
I do need some help and sense-check to figure out a smart way to keep all my data save while having the least amount of excess (i.e. keep costs in check) and keeping thing manageable.
My idea was:
The NAS can grow over time, e.g. by adding another drive to get Raid 5 and redundancy. I understand that the above strategy will keep some of the movies without B/U (which is a minor issue, I can re-rip them). Photos and personal files which are my biggest concern have all 2 B/U in different locations.
Some of the personal files I will also move to "the cloud".
Does the above strategy make sense? Anyone have any better suggestions?
thanks
grani13
My car got broken into, and a HDD with personal and professional data spanning 10-15 years stolen - with NO backup. (not talking about the rest that was stolen, grrrrr)
Luckily, I was able to retrieve the data as I had the content on my company's network a couple of years ago, and they were able to recover it. What a lucky son of a .... I have been, this will certainly be a lesson learned....
Now I am more than ever motivated to sort out my storage needs ASAP:
What I got at the moment is roughly:
- 2TB of photos and video files
- 2TB of movies
- 250GB of music
- 0.5GB of personal files
I do expect a growth of approx 250-300GB per year (photographs over the past few years are 150GB per year, and I would like to get more into video)
I was intending to get a 4bay NAS to store it all, I was painfully reminded that a NAS is also not a backup solution and I need more redundancy.
I do need some help and sense-check to figure out a smart way to keep all my data save while having the least amount of excess (i.e. keep costs in check) and keeping thing manageable.
My idea was:
- Get a 4bay NAS and start with e.g. 2x4TB (Raid 0). Move all the movies and music there.
- Keep personal files on the iMac
- Keep all the photos on the external HD (a must anyway, otherwise it'll be too slow)
- B/U personal files and photos with time machine to the NAS (Can I actually B/U files from 2 different HDDs into 1 time machine?)
- B/U personal files and photos with time machine to a 4TB external HD in regular intervals. Fill remaining space with music/movies. Keep in safe off-site location (e.g. office)
The NAS can grow over time, e.g. by adding another drive to get Raid 5 and redundancy. I understand that the above strategy will keep some of the movies without B/U (which is a minor issue, I can re-rip them). Photos and personal files which are my biggest concern have all 2 B/U in different locations.
Some of the personal files I will also move to "the cloud".
Does the above strategy make sense? Anyone have any better suggestions?
thanks
grani13
