Backup strategy

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Guest

I've just installed a 750gb hard drive and now would like to buy an
additional drive for backups. Maxtor has an external 1000gb drive formatted
RAID 0 or 1. I could also just buy another 750gb internal drive. Which
would be better in the long run?
 
Victor said:
I've just installed a 750gb hard drive and now would like to buy an
additional drive for backups. Maxtor has an external 1000gb drive
formatted RAID 0 or 1. I could also just buy another 750gb
internal drive. Which would be better in the long run?
Click to expand...

Depends on your wants/need and capabilites.

Want to completely backup everything at all times and have a RAID capable
system? Buy the second 750GB drive - RAID it with the first as a mirror and
then if something goes wrong - it would have to go wrong with both drives
(or other hardware) to make you incapable of continuing work - and both
drives would have to be totalled to lose data in a hardware failure.

Want to backup just your data? Get the external drive and schedule backups
using NTBackup or something like Cobian Backup. Personally - I wouldn't get
a Maxtor anything - but that is your choice. Lacie also makes such drives..
Not to mention the network attached storage options like Ximeta or Netgear
or Buffalo Technology and so on might give you a better option - allowing
you to backup more than one of your systems to the network attached storage
safely tucked away from your main system.
 
Buy the 750GB and an Image backup software package (Ghost is one but not the
only example) if real time backup of data is not a problem.

JS
 
Victor said:
I've just installed a 750gb hard drive and now would like to buy an
additional drive for backups. Maxtor has an external 1000gb drive
formatted RAID 0 or 1. I could also just buy another 750gb internal
drive. Which would be better in the long run?
Click to expand...

External is better for backups. It can be turned off or better yet
disconnected and stored elsewhere when not in use.
 
Victor said:
I've just installed a 750gb hard drive and now would like to buy an
additional drive for backups. Maxtor has an external 1000gb drive
formatted RAID 0 or 1. I could also just buy another 750gb internal
drive. Which would be better in the long run?
Click to expand...


RAID 0 (striping) uses two or more drives together as a single drive to
improve performance. It would do nothing for you regarding backups.

RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two or more drives, each a duplicate of the others,
to provide redundancy. It's used in situations where any downtown can't be
tolerated, because the way it works is that if one drive fails the other
takes over seamlessly. Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a backup
technique, that is *not* what it is, since it's subject to simultaneous loss
of the original and the mirror to many of the most common dangers
threatening your data--severe power glitches, nearby lightning strikes,
virus attackes, theft of the computer, etc.Most companies that use RAID 1
also have a strong external backup plan in place.

Moreover, an individual drive can't be formatted RAID 0 or RAID 1; it's the
array of multiple drives that are RAIDed. To RAID the drive, you need a
controller that supports it (there's also software RAID, but I understand it
performs poorly). Also, as far as I know (you should check to be sure I'm
right), the two drives would have to be the same size and you can't RAID a
1000GB drive with a 750GB one (or if you can, you could only use 750GB of
the 1000GB drive).

Regarding buying an internal 750GB drive, I never recommend using an
internal drive for backup, again because it leaves you susceptible to
simultaneous loss of the original and backup to many of the most common
dangers: severe power glitches, nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks,
even theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept in
the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the life of
your business depends on your data) you should have multiple generations of
backup, and at least one of those generations should be stored off-site.

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme uses two
identical removable hard drives, I alternate between the two, and use Drive
Image to make a complete copy of the primary drive.

So if I were you, I would buy the 750 internal drive and put it in an
inexpensive external USB enclosure.
 
So if I were you, I would buy the 750 internal drive and put it in an
inexpensive external USB enclosure.
 
Victor said:
So if I were you, I would buy the 750 internal drive and put it in
an inexpensive external USB enclosure.
Click to expand...

Just like you stated.
Buy an external case that will accept the 750GB drive and buy the drive and
put it in the case.

I would not (still) trust only a hard drive (external or not) for my data
backups. I would still maintain some removable media you take "offsite" on
a periodic basis.
 
Victor said:
So if I were you, I would buy the 750 internal drive and put it in an
inexpensive external USB enclosure.
Click to expand...


Just as I said: buy a USB drive enclosure. You can find them for sale on the
internet for $20 or so, and up. Do a google search.

Inserting the drive in the case is very easy and takes just a couple of
minutes. The enclosure will come with instructions.
 
Just remember that you just can't use a simple file copy of Windows to the
USB drive as a legitimate backup. Do some research on backup methods and
available software.

JS
 
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