Hdd crash

[steve_g]

My 1TB HDD that I keep all my data on Crashed… L
However, it was my mirrored NAS drive and it will only be a minor irritation to fix. J No data lost, no time lost restoring files, no tears.
A friendly reminder, backup your data! I’m glad I did…
SG

[MogulTx]

EXCELLENT FOR YOU!!!!!

Mirrored/ RAID-ed drives are MOST EXCELLENT!

[barrowj]

Steve,

This is a topic that many people seem to avoid for various reasons. The cost of consumer grade storage is getting so cheap (5TB $140 or less) and these external drives have backup software already loaded that everyone that can should be looking closely at this. That said, a good NAS will be more expensive for also will have better fault tolerance and durability. I have 11TB in and attached to my desktop and use 1/3 of it as backup. You only really need to backup your data, not the entire system since windows os will be restored usually from your internal drive or from cd's. If you are like me and use a system in the shop as your CNC controller and run Aspire/VcarvePro on it for minor changes then remember to always back it up also. As an IT Professional working for one of the largest IT Companies, I always stay up to date with my software and backups but even the average person can do this or reach out to someone on this forum for help. I will always try to assist too.

Joe

[adrianm]

Don't forget though that there should be a data backup stored off site as fire is still one of the big reasons for catastrophic data loss. Not to mention the possibility of theft as well.

With the proliferation of cloud storage companies around these days it's a great deal easier than it used to be.

Also a good backup strategy should include multiple revisions so you don't lose data due to corruption.

[paul_z]

I have a raid 1 (redundant storage) array on my design computer. It splits reads between the two drives making boot up and program startup much faster. Writes take "normal" time.

A few months ago an error message came up stating that drive 0 had an error. About an hour later another message popped up stating the drive 0 had been rebuilt and no further action was necessary. My kind of hardware.

Raid 5 might be a n even better choice in today's market.

Paul Z

[barrowj]

Paul,

One more drive and you could do a raid5, but i'm sure you probably know that if you computer has the ability.

[David Iannone]

Steve,
That is a great point. I know enough to get me into trouble with computers as far as reformatting, setting up simple networks, and file management. I never took any classes, just learned the hard way like I do most things......

I have used Dropbox for the last 2 or 3 years. $200 a year for 2 TB. Everything I got since 1999 is on there and I still got a lot of room. I load Dropbox on any PC that I want to have it sync all my data to, so I have as many copies in any different location I setup a PC to work and/or sync the data (which right now is work and home). Its ok, I can open and save files right to my file folders. I have shared folders with one of my higher volume customers, and shared folders with my Dad, Wife and Daugter. Easy file transfer....(I never did get into or understand the whole FTP file transfer thing?)

I can access anything easy off my Ipad and Iphone, and the best part is it pulls all my photos off my phone and Ipad to my account.

I am sure there is a more secure and cheaper way to do what I am doing, but "renting my own data" each year and the piece of mind its covered, and most importantly synced from home to shop makes it worth it for me.

Dave

[Ajcoholic]

I keep every file on two computers (one at work one at home). Both failing or other loss isn't too likely.

[ntraub01]

Backup Backup Backup

We are ALL very dependant upon computers and the attached HDs!! If you don't think it will happen to you then it is only a matter of time before it does.

I echo Joe's comments wholeheartedly!

We have sizeable onsite RAID with a combined storage space of approximately 51TBs across 13HDs. The majority of our machines are Macs and they maintain approximately 2 weeks of TimeMachine backups on the NAS available at all times. ALL working files are kept on the NAS so realistically we could cut back on the TimeMachine sizes as it SHOULD ONLY be backing up program files. BUT, as I found out yesterday as we were upgrading an existing machine, the user had nearly 60GB of files not stored on the NAS and resident to the machine only! Needless to say I was not happy to hear that news!!

Beyond the NAS we also keep a somewhat current, duplicate, bootable HD for all issued laptops. These redundant backup drives have come in handy a number of times because none of us have the time or energy to sit and reinstall all program software to get a machine up and running and employee back to work. If we are paying an employee $250 a day and their computer is MIA, and it takes 2-3 days for the HD to be replaced and all software reloaded, the dead drive just cost me $750 in lost employee wages and probably another $250 in IT expenses. With the backup drives it takes 5-10 minutes to replace the frazzled drive with a backup and away you go. Total cost $5.08 in time and $40 for a second HD that sits on a shelf until the other eventually fails. This also works quite well if a machine is stolen or damaged beyond use. Buy a duplicate machine, take out the HD provided with the replacement and put in the spare HD, it will boot and perform like the lost machine without hours of work.

Lesson of the day...hard drives, NAS, RAIDs, cloud based storage etc. etc. are all cheap. We all rely on a computer to run our SBs! If that computer is dead, missing, toasted in a fire or swimming with the fish your SB isn't running, you aren't making money and it is going to cost you more time and more money to fix the problem.


WoW, sorry, what a soap box that was!!

Nicholas

[richards]

Using a motherboard's "built in" raid controller can lead to problems IF the motherboard fails. The replacement motherboard may not use the exact same on-board controller, which will make it impossible to use your current Raid 1.

Unless I use a plug-in raid controller (expensive), I always back up all data to a USB thumb drive, a USB external drive, or to my in-home NAS (network attached storage, which is a Linux machine that serves as a file-server using Samba so that it is usable by Linux, Windows, and Apple computers).