Lets discuss backup methods: Blu Ray vs Hard Drive vs ?

[humbll]

I have about 700-800 gb of data and i seem to acquire more every day. I currently use a solution of 2 external hard drives which each hold a complete copy of my data. I use one, regularly accessing the data (playing mp3s and videos mostly) and the other sits offline until new data is written to the one in use then i always plug the second one in and copy the data to it then take it offline again.

I was contemplating buying a Blue Ray burner with BDXL capability. Most of the folders I have would fit on a single, regular BD-R 25 GB disc, a few folders would need a double layer 50GB disc, and my folder with my movies in it would fit on a BDXL 128GB disc. I have reservations about using this as a long term storage solution, after reading reviews such as thesemany of which claim to have lost data written to the discs after a period of time passes.

Besides online backups, which I do not like, what are some reliable backup solutions that won't break the bank? A tape backup drive seems to cost a fortune, as do the media for them.

[JorgeM]

So what is happening that you are having second thoughts about your hard drive backup? There is no additional cost, its simple, and sounds like a solution that's been working for you?

With regard to optical or tape, do you have a need to keep the data of today archived for a long term? I mean that if you have data on your drive and you back it up, will you remove it from your drive?

[caperjack]

quote=
about 700-800 gb of data
i regularly accessing the data (playing mp3s and videos mostly.

the money it must have cost to buy that much music and movies ,is sure is worth the investment of a very large harddrive to store it all on and put away in a drawer for years to come

[humbll]

i have been using the 2 external hard drive solution for years, i have not had a disk failure yet, so it is working for me, but what concerns me are the failure rates of drives which others have experienced. I currently use 2 western digital black 2 tb drives which have plenty of room to expand. i was just curious as to what everyone else uses for backups. There does not seem to be much available aside from online solutions, blu ray, hard drives, and expensive tape drives. I have alot of time and money tied up in my data, so i just want it to be safe.

[romi65]

external hard drives, mine is a seagate, offer problems - mine wasn't a year old before it chrashed irrevocably and forever - the flash drives I used, thrown in briefcases, purses and forever dropped, never crash - mind you, no place to put what's on them, their memory limitations, etc. are cons, but the pros are good - i still have external hard drives, two for good measure but I still have to rewrite a 294 page policies and procedures manual for which that external hard drive was purchased - skydrive looks more and more attractive

[Phaelax]

I know this thread is 4 months old, but I wanted to chime in anyway.

To backup 800GB of data to discs is going to take a fair bit of time. Not to mention the headache when you want to go back and find a particular file, how will you know which disc it's on?

I use a Buffalo NAS, two 2TB harddrives in a RAID 1 configuration over a gigabit lan. That particular box would cost you about $250, not really a huge cost at all considering what you'd be paying for the stand-alone drives anyway. (NAS grade drives) Mine's been running great for the past year. I also have an older model with 500gb drives (also buffalo) that hasn't faulted since I bought in '09.

As far as reliability of using discs, however, I have files stored on CDs from 10 years ago that are still readable. And bluray DVDs are suppose to be more resilient I believe than the older CDs anyway (at least in terms of scratch resistance).

[dom246]

I want to agree with Phaelax a bit and note that a RAID configuration may be worth it for you if you are really worried about the hard drives failing. It won't be too expensive and will be pretty reliable. I personally have a server in my house that I use for a media center. I also use this for my backups as well. If you are willing to go this route, I would recommend this as well.