MrsC does a lot of photography work, using pretty large RAW files and my stepdaughter is beginning to do the same. We also run a publishing company, which creates a fair amount of data that our authors would prefer us not to lose.
We've never really addressed the issue of keeping everything safe in case of a disaster, but 2 recent failures in the power supply to one of our Seagate external disk drives has made me think about setting up some kind of secure storage system.
It won't surprise anyone to know that my knowledge of such things is limited, but it seems that some sort of RAID device may be the answer?
If I outline the need, I'd be very grateful for any suggestions...
We have a mixture of Mac and PC devices both needing access to the files. Currently it's just a case of plugging in the relevant external drive, of which there are about 5, between 500 and 750 GB.

Could we easily make it a networked solution? We have a decent Virgin (netgear) router with a broadband booster plugged in to serve the kids bedrooms. I'm not worried about restricting access to the data/network beyond the usual password system as the files aren't particularly sensitive.

We don't have a lot of cash to throw at it, but it seems to me to be a prime case of better safe than sorry...

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

I've used Synology and Netgear ReadyNAS systems and have been very happy with their quality and usefulness.

I currently run a 2-drive readyNAS with two extra, small external drives which I run automatic backups to. One sits on top of the readyNAS and one sits in the car. I just swap them over every week to keep them current and this helps guard against possible fire damage.

They're pretty user-friendly (!).

stick it in the cloud and get someone else to look after it. if you're serious about back-ups they really have be off site

Jim,

RAID devices are not really considered a backup, they just allow you to continue to access your data without interruption. They MAY protect you against a failed hard drive, (Suggestion is to go with hard drives from different vendors).

We have a RAID 5 which is quite good, we also have various backup routines, (Apple TimeCapsule, QNAP T219Pii, Buffalo Link Station Live).

My advice is the QNAP, but get the TS119 and a separate USB Drive, You can then set the QNAP up to back up Daily to the USB

For additional photo backup use the new Flickr service, its very good

I make sure we have Apple TIme Machine backing up the Macs, (I have TC, QNAP and Netgear all at same time, it alternates between them), then every day, a separate complete backup is made to the Buffalo via Getbackup Pro this backs up the Boot drive for my Mac Pro.
It also syncs my User account with our other Macs, so no matter which Mac I am on, the desktop, docs etc are the same.

Cloud isn't really popular with MrsC, which means it's not going to happen. This is just about having adequate, easily accessible storage with a safety net.

What do people reckon to this (set up as Raid 1)?

Buffalo Linkstation Duo 2 x 2TB

Seems good value to me. There is one thing to be aware of with NAS drives and that is if the enclosure goes wrong, then you cant just mount the drives in an external case to access the data. So while you may think "Two drives are better than one", remember if the enclosure fails you may be stuffed and that happened to a work friend of mine with a Buffalo and it had to be sent to Holland, they couldn't get the data back and simply sent him a replacement.

The support forum may be worth a look. http://forums.buffalotech.com/

Personally I would go with a QNAP or Synology single drive and a separate USB drive for better data redundancy.

If you really want RAID that can be expanded, these are worth a look http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Gigabit-Desktop-Network-Storage/dp/B00620CM0I/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_1 You can use a single drive, or up to 4 drives.

I have both a Buffalo and a Netgear, and rate the Netgear as better.

Another good alternative may be a DROBO?

Thanks Charlie. One of the chief attractions of the Buffalo is its price; that Netgear is over our budget and seems to be just the enclosure.
We don't need Pentagon levels of data security, just something a bit better than a single external drive stuck into a USB port. With the NAS/Raid 1 option, we can combine a decent probability of keeping the data with access for everyone. All told we probably have about 1TB of data, so a solution like this should give us a bit of breathing space. And we can still back up critical data (such as it is) to the external drive.

If i may suggest another solution you may want to consider a self build system ilike Unriad.

It can be cheaper and far more flexible. No issue with sending kit off if it fails, No issue with limited capacity and upgrade options. No issue with proprietry data formats or transferinf data to new machines.

All you need to start is a usb flash drive, 3 drives (they can be different sizes without an issue) and an old pc and a free copy of the software.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/APPLE-POWER-MA...=item35c828ebd8

You can have up to 4 drives, I have a spare copy of OS-X Leopard Server and Might even have a PCI SATA Card for more storage options.

Not sure if that was meant for me or Jim. Yeah that would also be a option. There are loads of ways to do it. FreeNAS is another option.

To clarify Unraid can run many more than 3 drives, its just free with up to 3 drives. I currently have 10 drives in my array and space for another 4 when I am ready, its only limit is sata ports and case space. Also can start with just 2 drives.

Jim. You have a PM.

Thanks Hyperlink - replied!

And replied back.

I think Unraid may be too much work by the sound of it but have a look at what I sent you.

Google iosafe

fire proof nas.

There are also secure nas and removable driveswhich are encrypted and cesg approved if you need that type of secure. istorage diskG is an example.

Bad news: the new power supply I ordered for MrsC's Seagate Freeagent Desktop external HDD has not reawakened it. I must now enter the murky world of data recovery...

It's probably not a problem with the drive itself, it could just be the small controller board inside the case.

Most of these external cases have to be broken open , but if you do that and then extract the drive you can most likely just plug it into another generic external case or even inside your PC and it'll work fine.

If it is a problem with the drive itself then it may just be the PCB fuses, relatively easy to fix. Other than that you'd be looking at trying to source an identical drive (including firmware revision if possible) and switching the complete PCB.

It this is the one I'm thinking of, it's the same as mine. I'm guessing you'll have damaged the USB connection on the enclosure, like I managed. The contacts will have come away from the board. Perfectly possible to hard wire the cable to the board (if you can solder well).

It's not the USB - the light on the drive doesn't come on. Thhanks for the tips guys, I think I've got an enclosure that will fit. We don't have any desktops, so I don't think that will work!

take the drive apart, most enclosures are just held together with screws (sometimes hidden under stickers)

Then get hold of one of these. plug in the power to the drive, then the sata or ide cable to the USB port on a laptop and you should be good to go.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Decrescent-Trans...ds=sata+ide+usb

The only point I would make about backing up your data is that you really need two copies of the data in separate locations. If you are worried about your data being held unencrypted in the "cloud" then simply encrypt the data using winzip and use the AES256 password option with a suitably complex password.

Use the encrypted copy as an off site backup and the back the rest up to a local drive. (You can use an old PC or you can have a go with something like a raspberry pi and a USB drive).

Almost definitely the enclosure, when a drive fails it normally starts making the click of death.

Take your pick of these Enclosures or pop into local PCworld or Maplins. Your drive will be either a 2.5 inch or a 3.5 inch, buy an enclosure that fits that size. The box will be marked as SATA or IDE, chances are the drive is a SATA one if you bought it in last couple of years

Takes 5-10 mins at tops to transfer a drive to a new enclosure

Neither did the light on mine. Pop it in a new enclosure

Thanks again, all. I'll try the enclosure I have (though it is IDE and I suspect the Seagate is SATA) and failing that I'll go for the kit that sugerbear recommended, which looks useful.

I bought a Zxyel NSA325 enclosure plus 2 (identical, oops) x 3 Tb drives and it works well enough for me, although remote access is not as easy as I was expecting, but having said that I've not spent enough time getting my head around all the options.

With all the RAW images you have Jim (5-10Mb each? More?) I would suspect that 2Tb will fill up quickly (remember that RAID 1 means 2 identical drives) and with around 3Tb already on the 5 USB drives, surely you need more? The above NAS box is £80 and 3Tb internal SATA drives are £100 each from ebuyer, so maybe a bit above budget, but better value than 2Tb. 3Tb might ne the upper limit on most NAS boxes, not sure?

put it all on disc

helped set up a couple of big storage arrays dell and hp with my brothers company ...... put them on dvd or bluray do a copy of each .... thats my brothers words that way no matter what happens you will always have a copy

Years ago, before DVD's when CD's were fairly new on PC's and when we first started taking digital pictures, I used to archive to 2xCD's at a time. With over 100 pairs of CD's I've found that they are not too reliable, despite verifying the write and storing one set back on the 'cake' and the other set all in plastic wallets, 2 or 3 of the CD's became unreadable, luckily all different with the other CD being OK, but with CD's holding only 0.75 Gb and DVD's only 4.7 Gb, I'd rather use hard discs or usb drives.

I suppose you can never be 100% sure to cover all possible data loss.
I think in total, we have about 1TB of data in need of saving. Although there are a lot of RAW files, many of them MrsC only needs temporarily, as once she has sent them off to her employer, she no longer needs them. The idea is that we will empty a lot of stuff off the HDD on the laptop, (a total of about 100GB including all the data I've ever had!) then she can use that for her work images. The art photos (and the movies she makes and the manuscripts for publishing) which she processes on the MacBook are the ones requiring saving/backing up and there's less than 750GB of those. Although my stepdaughter will probably have around 250GB of data, she stores most of her pictures on the cloud.
So, yes, we will be on the way to filling 2TB, but not so quickly that I'll have to worry about buying a third HDD in the next couple of months. With the UnRaid system recommended above by Hyperlink, you can add new drives to the array and it will automatically incorporate them, using the highest capacity drive as the parity drive. If I start with 2x2TB, I'll only have 2TB of storage, but if I then simply add a third drive, I can increase it (if I have understood the way it works!). Unraid software is free for up to 3 drives.

I'm hoping my Father-in-Law may be able to provide me with a donor desktop and - allowing for a few components such as a new PSU/fan and possibly a GB ethernet card, my only other cost will be the 2 drives.

If I manage to recover the data from the Seagate drive and it turns out to be the enclosure that is FUBAR, then I suppose I could even use that drive in my unraid NAS (once wiped and tested). Temporarily at least...

Of course I could keep on improving the spec of any system, or even return to the idea of the Buffalo NAS in Raid 1 that I began this thread with, but I would really like to keep the budget to around £200, with the possibility of growing the capacity later if necessary.

And I like the idea of building something useful out of an old desktop. I mean, what could possibly go wrong...?

Jim let me know what computers turn up and I will try and help.

What size is the Seagate drive? You could quite easily add the Seagate to your 2x 2tb drives and end up with and reasonable size array with room to grow. The preclear test should uncover any issues with the disk before you add it to the array.

Once need more space than the 3 drives you need to make a decision either to stump up for larger (3 or 4tb) drives and swap some drives out or pay a license and just add more drives smaller drives. personally i think its cheaper and preferable to get a license and add more drives.

Jim just PM'd you a link to some pics I promised.

Thanks again, Hyperlink.

I'll hopefully know this evening what the desktops are like. I'm hoping at least one of them will be big enough for 3 or more drives; not sure about the (approx 10-year-old) Dell Optiplex machines...

The Seagate is 750GB, so a reasonable minor addition to an array.

Initially, I'll probably stick to the free 3 drive deal, but in the longer term, I reckon you could be right - tower space and cash permitting...