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Thread ID: 140597	2015-11-10 02:50:00	RAID as backup	Chikara (5139)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1411146	2015-11-10 02:50:00	Hi all, Now I know people usually say RAID is not a backup system, because if you accidentally delete or corrupt a file or it gets infected with a virus, it's automatically mirrored on the RAID too. (plus, it's in the same physical location - a true backup should be offsite) I have a Synology diskstation, and I was reading about their cloudstation service - which has a setting which lets you choose how many versions of a file are saved. As long as I am understanding the feature correctly, then doesn't this overcome the first problem I mentioned? I could for example, set to keep a maximum of 3 versions of the files. Then if I have a virus or corruption, I can just restore from 2 versions ago. To me, this seems like a better option than having a separate HD in my machine as a 'backup', *plus* mirroring via RAID. Does anyone else here use Synology Diskstation and the cloudstation service? Is my understanding above, actually how it works? The other thing that seems to be good with CloudStation is, it looks like you can manually move individual files in their native file formats, without needing a proprietary system to do a restore. I know with RAID there is always a risk of RAID array failure, but in my view the odds of both my data disk in my PC failing, plus 2 drives in the RAID failing at the same time, are extremely remote. While I'm here, I'm also curious what folks here do for offsite backups. Do many people do it, and if so, how? I know I should do offsite backups, but I have so much data that using a cloud service I don't think is feasible from a bandwidth point of view. I suppose I could look at a external hard drive(s) which I remove offsite regularly but that's not so practical to do. What do people here use, if anything? (By the way, I am just a home user, not a business, but I have many years of home videos etc that I want to protect).	Chikara (5139)
1411147	2015-11-10 03:26:00	How I do it here: Work backward almost. You'll HAVE to think about these, I did and after a LOT of yes, no what ever there was only a few items that came into the 1st category . :) 1st. What is the MOST important, if lost would be a big problem or disaster ? No matter the size make backups to online storage somewhere that suits you. Mine go to onedrive automatically every time there's a change. 2.nd, whats important that can be backed up to either a removable drive or local server Eg: daily backups, important documents that you need to keep. Here the computers are backed up every night automatically to a server in the workshop, when I get around to it :xmouth: I back up the servers content at least once a month to a removable HDD that's taken off site, that has everything on it, ( daily backups, ISO's, Programs data etc) as apart from the daily backups not a lot changes. If for example the backup server died as well as the PC's HDD at the same time, while it would be a nuisance because I would have to reinstall the OS from fresh along with programs etc instead of a backup that would take less than an hour it wouldn't be the end of the world as all the really important stuff is in the cloud storage. 3rd. What never changes, items like music, movies, old documents etc. You may hardly ever use them, but want them, again External HDD stored someplace off site that gets backed up with newer items when you want. At the end of the day theres only a few types of "buggers" Ones that if they were lost while not the end of the world would be a nuisance, and if lost --Oh shlt, end of world :( :2cents: Edited: Having backups IN the same PC, or keeping a USB drive connected 24/7 is really almost pointless - Example, PSU dies and takes out all the HDD's, and everything connected to the Computer :eek: Seen it happen -wheres the backups ??? Up in smoke and worthless.	wainuitech (129)
1411148	2015-11-10 03:35:00	A comment on the 'offsite' option. I have tried a cloud approach but that didn't work for me so I took another approach. I backup to my NAS but I have moved it from the room where my main PCs live and moved it upstairs and on the opposite side of the house. I live a few minutes from the fire station so it is unlikely my whole house is going to get burnt totally. The NAS is not conspicuous so, hopefully, it won't be stolen if I get burglars. In addition, I have a small USB drive that I copy backups to reasonably frequently and this lives in our under-house safe. I also, additionally, have my photos backed up separately/safely on OneDrive. That's enough for me!	linw (53)
1411149	2015-11-10 03:48:00	Thanks guys, good points to consider. I am thinking of using my Synology (NAS/RAID) to mirror all my data, and keeping say 3 versions back via CloudStation. So in case of data corruption I can go back at least 2 earlier versions to find a working copy. I know this will eat up more storage space but HD's are fairly cheap these days. I would plan to use this as my main backup tool. Although this won't help in case of fire or theft, I think it protects against both hardware failure (because of the RAID redundancy) and file corruption problems (because of the versioning). I am not too worried about theft as I live in an apartment where the building has secured entry etc. Fire is still a potential risk but one I'm willing to take. Perhaps I will also do a seperate online backup of just the most critical data also - Wainui's '1st' category :) My main problem is a lot of what I want to back up is large video files so it's not quite so feasible using online solutions. Wainui, how do you back up your files automatically to OneDrive? I know there's a photo sync feature but can you also auto-sync for any types of documents from any folder(s)? How??	Chikara (5139)
1411150	2015-11-10 04:45:00	Wainui, how do you back up your files automatically to OneDrive? I know there's a photo sync feature but can you also auto-sync for any types of documents from any folder(s)? How?? Under your User Name folder will be another Folder called OneDrive -- On this PC which actually signs into the server in the workshop, I had to open the one drive Folder and if you don't use a Microsoft account to sign in with on the computer a window should open asking you to sign into One Drive. If you don't have a MS account make one, its free. Once signed in ANYTHING that in that folder (other folders which you can make, files) will automatically be uploaded as soon as theres a change or addition ( new folder /file) to one drive. Example: So if you have a documents that get changed all the time, and its in the one drive folder, with shortcuts going to the desktop, as soon as you save your work, One Drive will detect it and upload the changes. I have several spreadsheets and other items that are work related and get altered all the time, its auto backup as soon as its saved in the document. If you have a Office 365 Subscription by default you have a 1TB storage automatically for each user if you have a home edition, The free one is now only 5GB as some were abusing the unlimited, they have recently dropped unlimited as some people were using 75 TB ( that's not a typo either) The article www.odt.co.nz	wainuitech (129)
1411151	2015-11-10 05:03:00	Thanks, So in your case the document itself it stored on OneDrive, and you just have a shortcut only to it from your desktop? Doesn't that mean that you *only* are storing the document in OneDrive? So if for any reason OneDrive was unreachable, you can't access the document? What I was thinking of, is having auto-sync between selected file(s) and folder(s) from my local HD, to OneDrive. For example, if I have a folder called 'important stuff' on my local drive that contains various files, is there any way that I can work on the filse locally, and have a copy saved to OneDrive automatically, each time the content changes? I have read through the various help and can't see a way of doing this. And, that kind-of sucks that MS is reducing the storage. I know it's free, but they have mislead their users by promising certain limits and then reducing it after that have already signed up. The article mentions the free limit is reducing from 15GB to 5GB. My free account has 40GB at the moment though, I have no idea why or whetehr it will still reduce to 5GB or some higher figure...	Chikara (5139)
1411152	2015-11-10 06:47:00	Thanks, So in your case the document itself it stored on OneDrive, and you just have a shortcut only to it from your desktop? Doesn't that mean that you *only* are storing the document in OneDrive? So if for any reason OneDrive was unreachable, you can't access the document? What I was thinking of, is having auto-sync between selected file(s) and folder(s) from my local HD, to OneDrive. For example, if I have a folder called 'important stuff' on my local drive that contains various files, is there any way that I can work on the filse locally, and have a copy saved to OneDrive automatically, each time the content changes? I have read through the various help and can't see a way of doing this. And, that kind-of sucks that MS is reducing the storage. I know it's free, but they have mislead their users by promising certain limits and then reducing it after that have already signed up. The article mentions the free limit is reducing from 15GB to 5GB. My free account has 40GB at the moment though, I have no idea why or whetehr it will still reduce to 5GB or some higher figure... The onedrive Folder on the Computer is on the Local HDD. All its doing is syncing to another storage location on Microsoft. You don't have to be connected to MS or even the internet to use the contents. If for some reason you are not connected to the internet, then lets say you do some work on a file in the one drive folder, it will work perfectly and as soon as the internet is available THEN it will auto sync to OneDrive at MS any changes. And yes, the main document is in the one drive folder with a shortcut on the desktop, saves opening the onedrive folder all the time.	wainuitech (129)
1411153	2015-11-10 07:04:00	I do mine a little different, but having lost everything a few times to my own foolishness I know it's not the end of the world, there really is nothing I store anywhere that I absolutely can't lose. A lot of the decision is personal and hinges on how much you want to protect your data and how much you are willing to spend to do it. I think my Ideal would be 2 large NAS devices in 2 separate locations with 1 backing up the other but didn't want to spend that much money. Instead I increased the storage I already had a bit and added a single NAS to the mix with the same amount of space. I decided against using a mirror on my NAS, instead it's 2 x 4TB drives in a striped array for performance. I store basically everything on there. Once a night it it's backed up Via a scheduled robocopy task to an 8TB jbod array on my main PC, generally only takes a few minutes. I figure with a complete backup of the data there was no actual point in a mirror which would halve my storage space. If my house burns down I will lose it all, I think there are bigger concerns there personally though. I figure with 4 x 4 TB drives 8TB of storage with a backup is the best balance for my needs, there is no way to get the same result with a mirror. There is a small risk if I screw something up on the NAS and don't notice the changes will be mirrored to the backup over night.	dugimodo (138)
1411154	2015-11-10 07:48:00	Indeed you're correct about RAID not being a backup mechanism, it is more short term safety measure to either improve performance or increase availability of your RAID set. I backup all my data in multiple datasets to a FreeNAS box. I don't have an "off-site" copy as part of my backup but this is mainly because it's probably overkill. for me to "lose everything" i'd have to have irrecoverable gardware failure across 6 Enterprise disks and or the whole house burning down to the ground. Whilst the latter is not improbable it is reasonably unlikely. Having said that, I am investigating an off-site set to put in place in the near future. cheers,	chiefnz (545)
1411155	2015-11-11 02:24:00	I know with RAID there is always a risk of RAID array failure, but in my view the odds of both my data disk in my PC failing, plus 2 drives in the RAID failing at the same time, are extremely remote. . dont be fooled, a raid mirror array can be trashed with just a single drive failing. Ive seen that happen, twice . Its rare , but can happen. Also , be careful re opening up your NAS direct to the internet. You run the real risk of having it hacked (has happened via firmware security holes) . Also , depending on the apps you have on your NAS, the app may use your NAS as a torrent node for others NAS's (seen that on QNAP, and torrenting app wasnt installed but remote access/sharing was)	1101 (13337)
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