Help me build a backup system.

[From A Buick 8]

Ok I would like to build a setup to use to backup my 4TB Ext drive and my 1TB iMac hard drive.

The system can be very manual, I plan to back up everything about once a month. Right now I have only about 2TB of the Ext drive full and about half of my iMac full, so I would like something that I can easily add a HD too as I need more space.

I am very willing to sacrifice looks and ease of use to save money on the setup.

PS I wanted to say that the EXT HD is FireWire enclosure from OWC that I put two 2TB drives into. So I would like the backup solution to be FireWire as well.

 

[From A Buick 8]

I am thinking something like this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012Z3MKW?m=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K

to back up the iMac, I can get two 1TB drives and keep one offsite

 

[Capt Crunch]

I am thinking something like this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012Z3MKW?m=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K

to back up the iMac, I can get two 1TB drives and keep one offsite

That is almost exactly what you should get. You said you wanted firewire, I think this version has it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026S7HP0/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk

This one looks nice too:

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeA...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1310438578&sr=1-3

 

[From A Buick 8]

That is almost exactly what you should get. You said you wanted firewire, I think this version has it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026S7HP0/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk

This one looks nice too:

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeA...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1310438578&sr=1-3

Thanks Captain, i had wanted firewire just so i can daisy chain off of my existing firewire ext drive.

But USB was much cheaper, but looking at the second one you found that looks good.

Now i am being told that the Ext Firewire drive that i have may not be the best way to store my itunes media files, it is an OWC Ext case with two 2TB drives set at Raid0 so they show up on my iMac as a single 4TB volume.

 

[Capt Crunch]

Now i am being told that the Ext Firewire drive that i have may not be the best way to store my itunes media files, it is an OWC Ext case with two 2TB drives set at Raid0 so they show up on my iMac as a single 4TB volume.

I don't see why anyone would say that. It's perfectly fine, as long as you know that RAID0 doesn't back up anything, but you were going to backup anyways.

 

[From A Buick 8]

I don't see why anyone would say that. It's perfectly fine, as long as you know that RAID0 doesn't back up anything, but you were going to backup anyways.

Ok a question about backing up the Ext drive. Can I just back up that across a couple of drives (using one of the docks from above). I guess I am having trouble wrapping my head around the proper way to back-up what my iMac sees as one 4TB drive using a dock and swapping out drives.

 

[Capt Crunch]

Ok a question about backing up the Ext drive. Can I just back up that across a couple of drives (using one of the docks from above). I guess I am having trouble wrapping my head around the proper way to back-up what my iMac sees as one 4TB drive using a dock and swapping out drives.

That's a good question. You're going to have to manually back up certain folders on one backup drive, and the rest on another. Since you didn't partition your RAID0 box, there's no way to just clone it onto other drives separately.

Basically, pick half your data and put it folder 1 and the rest in folder 2. Sync folder 1 on backup drive 1 and folder 2 on backup drive 2.

 

[From A Buick 8]

That's a good question. You're going to have to manually back up certain folders on one backup drive, and the rest on another. Since you didn't partition your RAID0 box, there's no way to just clone it onto other drives separately.

Basically, pick half your data and put it folder 1 and the rest in folder 2. Sync folder 1 on backup drive 1 and folder 2 on backup drive 2.

Ok should I just break down and redo my current Ext drive. All I use it for is my iTunes stuff

How well does iTunes work being spread across two volumes

 

[ctakim]

My setup is using a FireWire Drobo with four 1.5 TB drives to back up my external drives hooked up to a MacMini on my home network. Just remember though, a single copy of something on a Drobo is not backed up although you do get some extra protection from a single drive failure.

 

[Dan--]

I don't see why anyone would say that. It's perfectly fine, as long as you know that RAID0 doesn't back up anything, but you were going to backup anyways.

The reason why it's not a great idea is that what RAID 0 gives you is the potential for greater speed. However, because of the usage (serving itunes media) the speed improvements can't be realized.

The downside of RAID 0 is that if either drive fails the whole volume goes down, and would need to be restored from backup if available.

So RAIDing the drives doesn't buy any actual performance, and reduces reliability to an extent.

 

[From A Buick 8]

The reason why it's not a great idea is that what RAID 0 gives you is the potential for greater speed. However, because of the usage (serving itunes media) the speed improvements can't be realized.

The downside of RAID 0 is that if either drive fails the whole volume goes down, and would need to be restored from backup if available.

So RAIDing the drives doesn't buy any actual performance, and reduces reliability to an extent.

Ok so i have these 2 2TB drives in an enclosure, they are RAID 0 and show up on my desktop as 1 4TB volume.

What should i do to make it safer. I originally set them up as 1 volume because i thought that would be easier for iTunes to understand and write too (a single volume instead of two).

I can re-do them easily enough at this point (i am less the 2TB on there now).

 

[Capt Crunch]

Ok so i have these 2 2TB drives in an enclosure, they are RAID 0 and show up on my desktop as 1 4TB volume.

What should i do to make it safer. I originally set them up as 1 volume because i thought that would be easier for iTunes to understand and write too (a single volume instead of two).

I can re-do them easily enough at this point (i am less the 2TB on there now).

The easiest thing would be to get another setup just like the one you have, and duplicate everything on it. That's expensive.

Still, I think the iTunes library is contained in folders. You could still manually backup half and half and put it all back together if something fails.

To be honest, you're getting to the point where you're probably going to outgrow your setup. I would start looking at 4-bay or 5-bay RAID boxes. I have a drobo that I like. This will be expensive, but it may save you money down the road. You want to avoid having to redo an entire complicated setup when you have too much data.

 

[From A Buick 8]

Ok i took the ext drive out last night and looking at the settings on it and finally being able to dig up my notes from last october, the setting on the drive is JBOD which according to the tech support at OWC is NRAID

I am going to pick up one of these
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-GoFlex-External-STAC2000100/dp/B003ELOSJG/ref=pd_cp_e_4
To back up my iMac.

Not sure yet what i will use to back up the Ext drive but it may be something similar.

 

[AppleDApp]

Seems like you need a NAS or a multiple bay hard drive enclosure that use some form of RAID.

The Drobo seems nice but it is expensive and I've heard lots of horror stories about them.

I'd look into Synologyfor a NAS solution.