I'm not certain which is the appropriate forum to place this in as the Drobo has been discussed everywhere. This may add to part of my confusion about it.
This is my current situation. I have an iMac that I currently back-up in the following manner:
1. Online back-up of Music, Pictures, and Documents (Mozy)
2. Off-site back-up of Pictures, Music, Library, Documents, and Desktop each month. This is stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box on a WD Passport (160GB). Obviously, this will need to be larger in the future.
3. All significant photos are also backed-up on the original SD card (I buy new ones each time I go on vacation) stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box.
4. All video is currently unedited on DV tape stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box. I have probably twenty hours of unedited video awaiting editing from the past few years of trips.
I have been thinking about a Drobo to use to back-up my iMac (via FireWire). However, I have read comments that this is not a viable means of back-up. Dont quite understand why if you use this in combination with other means. I understand the concept of having three separate and different types of media, particularly for photos and video. My plans are to do basic photo and video editing (I am not a total novice at this, obviously) with the existing data and then store it on my iMacs HDD, the Drobo, an external HDD that can be stored off-site, online back-up of photos (I think video would be tough?), and the original SD cards and DV tape. I plan to switch to a HD camcorder but have not decided on tape v. SD/HDD.
My thoughts were that I can use a dedicated external HDD as a scratch disk for editing, move my projects to the iMacs internal HDD, and then back-up everything from there. I guess I can also designate space on the Drobo for SuperDuper?
To complicate matters, I plan on purchasing an MBA/MB/MBP (one of these) for use as my primary business machine while leaving the iMac to personal use. I thought of using a Time Capsule for back-up for this.
My question: is this a reasonable plan? It seems that the only limiting factor is the space available on the iMacs internal HDD. Also, should I back-up the unedited video from all DV tapes (quite a bit of video) to a drive (I assume this would almost certainly have to be external) in addition to the completed/edited video?
Bottom line is I am confused as the best solution for me and which path to take to ensure the safety of my data while not wasting money at the same time. I appreciate any and all comments/suggestions as before. Thanks, everyone!
This is my current situation. I have an iMac that I currently back-up in the following manner:
1. Online back-up of Music, Pictures, and Documents (Mozy)
2. Off-site back-up of Pictures, Music, Library, Documents, and Desktop each month. This is stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box on a WD Passport (160GB). Obviously, this will need to be larger in the future.
3. All significant photos are also backed-up on the original SD card (I buy new ones each time I go on vacation) stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box.
4. All video is currently unedited on DV tape stored in my bank Safety Deposit Box. I have probably twenty hours of unedited video awaiting editing from the past few years of trips.
I have been thinking about a Drobo to use to back-up my iMac (via FireWire). However, I have read comments that this is not a viable means of back-up. Dont quite understand why if you use this in combination with other means. I understand the concept of having three separate and different types of media, particularly for photos and video. My plans are to do basic photo and video editing (I am not a total novice at this, obviously) with the existing data and then store it on my iMacs HDD, the Drobo, an external HDD that can be stored off-site, online back-up of photos (I think video would be tough?), and the original SD cards and DV tape. I plan to switch to a HD camcorder but have not decided on tape v. SD/HDD.
My thoughts were that I can use a dedicated external HDD as a scratch disk for editing, move my projects to the iMacs internal HDD, and then back-up everything from there. I guess I can also designate space on the Drobo for SuperDuper?
To complicate matters, I plan on purchasing an MBA/MB/MBP (one of these) for use as my primary business machine while leaving the iMac to personal use. I thought of using a Time Capsule for back-up for this.
My question: is this a reasonable plan? It seems that the only limiting factor is the space available on the iMacs internal HDD. Also, should I back-up the unedited video from all DV tapes (quite a bit of video) to a drive (I assume this would almost certainly have to be external) in addition to the completed/edited video?
Bottom line is I am confused as the best solution for me and which path to take to ensure the safety of my data while not wasting money at the same time. I appreciate any and all comments/suggestions as before. Thanks, everyone!
. All kidding aside Drobo is great since it is a Raid 5. I would say go for it back up everything to it and take your stuff out of the safety deposit box and stop spending on SD cards. That is the purpose of digital cameras, no need to buy film, or say spend on storage.
