Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Computers & Peripherals => Topic started by: dgberg on July 31, 2019, 08:22:27 am
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My 2009 Mac Pro is going off line with no explanations other then it is 10 years old.
Time for a replacement without spending 5k if possible.
My biggest worry is how to handle the transfer of images in Lightroom to a new system. I have the 4 internal drives on the Mac Pro.
My computer salesman will be setting up whatever I purchase but he is not a Lightroom guy.
Suggestions I can pass on to him and what is an ideal Mac setup for photography.
I plan on keeping my two screens. 30" HD Mac and my NEC PA242w.
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Looking at iMac Pro 8 core 32gb ram 1tb ssd drive and some sort of dual 4tb external drives for storage and backup.
Problem is the price is $4995 excluding external drives.
Getting a quote on the new iMac 5k with 1tb ssd drive and 64gb of ram. Plus 2 -4tb external drives for storage.
Not sure what external drives he is quoting. If they can keep the price of the upgraded 5k and drives under $5,000 I may go that route.
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My 2009 Mac Pro is going off line with no explanations other then it is 10 years old.
Time for a replacement without spending 5k if possible.
My biggest worry is how to handle the transfer of images in Lightroom to a new system. I have the 4 internal drives on the Mac Pro.
OWC* will sell you a quite capable, factory-refurbished, 2013 Mac Pro (https://eshop.macsales.com/configure-my-mac/UAGA3KP7IXXXZGI) for $2500. Put your Lightroom catalog on the internal solid-state drive and attach some inexpensive external drives to store your image files and for back-up. The configuration at the link above is what I'm using now and the machine's performance with Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as some programs that require but don't overly stress the graphics processors, is quite satisfactory. Apple doesn't publish end-of-life plans for software support of specific hardware, but my guess is you should be able to get at least five years out of this machine—probably quite a bit longer if you don't need to stay current with all of Apple's future operating system versions.
As for migration, as long as the old machine will still boot, the simplest method I can think of would be to copy your current filing hierarchy from the old computer to the new one across a local network using the "secure shell" utility that Apple includes as part of MacOS. Depending on how much data you have to move it might take overnight, even on a fast network over hardwired interfaces (Ethernet), but by copying the catalog and replicating your current directory structure on the new machine, no reconfiguration of Lightroom should be required. If you don't know how to do this kind of thing yourself, I'm sure you can find a local high school geek who will be happy to handle it for a modest fee.
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*I have no connection to the company except as a customer.
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Thanks Chris
My Mac Pro is running 10.11.6 so I now have 5 different photography software packages that I can no longer update.
10.12 required as a minimum. Don't want to be doing this again in a couple of years.
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10.12 required as a minimum. Don't want to be doing this again in a couple of years.
I'm running 10.14.6 on my 2013 Mac Pro. I can't predict the future, but I would be surprised if Apple didn't include support for this hardware in at least the next three major releases.
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Just finished placing the order. Purchasing 64GB ram from OWC at half the price.
Plus we get 10% off for the Education discount, wife is a professor.
My last computer purchase, I hope. Wanted to get the latest technology. Not being able to update software because of os limitations gets old real fast.
The iMac pro was enticing but at over a grand more I am not sure I see the value for that additional money.
27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display.
3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor
Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory 1TB SSD storage
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard
Drobo 5D3 with 5 - 3TB Server Grade Hard drives
USB-C to USB-C Cable server grade data cable AppleCare+
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Drobo 5D3 with 5 - 3TB Server Grade Hard drives
Sounds good. My experience though is that there is no point in expensive drives in a Drobo. It is a protected system anyway. If you put in 5 drives then it is full. If you want to increase then you have to pull something out and a bigger drive will not increase the storage anyway as it is limited by the smaller drives.
You would probably be better off with 3 x 4TB (or 6TB or more if it supports them)
Correction 4 Aug 19 : Changed "smallest" to "smaller"
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27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display.
3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor
Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory 1TB SSD storage
Precisely the machine I purchased earlier this Spring, I upgraded the memory to 48Gb separately. You'll be a happy man.
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+1 i think this is now the best choice -
a better choice would be a similar macpro 2012 but then a 2019 version but Apple forgot to make that. (That is why i have a hackintosh that is simply that.)
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Precisely the machine I purchased earlier this Spring, I upgraded the memory to 48Gb separately. You'll be a happy man.
My computer guy was a little shy on the larger OWC RAM modules.
His comment was they are not proven yet on the 2019 models.
I asked about going to 128GB of ram and his suggestion was you can always go there later and to start with 64.
Anyones thoughts on the benefits of going with 128 vs 64 GB of after market RAM.
Since OWC ram is coming separately we could still change that order.
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My computer guy was a little shy on the larger OWC RAM modules.
His comment was they are not proven yet on the 2019 models.
I asked about going to 128GB of ram and his suggestion was you can always go there later and to start with 64.
Anyones thoughts on the benefits of going with 128 vs 64 GB of after market RAM.
Since OWC ram is coming separately we could still change that order.
Best thing is to have the same RAM modules in the machine...
OWC will have to ensure you that they work ( in some case combined with the ones already inside the iMac)
They have a long history of supporting mac so they know what they are doing.
I have 32 gig ram in my machine and it is enough for almost any task ( i work with very large images) especially if you close programs that you do not use at that time.
( if i switch from LR tot photoshop for instance) More ram is usually fast cache.
I think 64GIG ram will be sufficient, but if you use the computer all day without closing programs you do not need you just pile up a load of fast cache in the Ram modules.
For speed it is also very important that your working harddisk is the fast 1 TB SSD- The external sata drives cannot compete.
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You answered my questions.
Thank you.
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Sounds good. My experience though is that there is no point in expensive drives in a Drobo. It is a protected system anyway. If you put in 5 drives then it is full. If you want to increase then you have to pull something out and a bigger drive will not increase the storage anyway as it is limited by the smallest drive.
You would probably be better off with 3 x 4TB (or 6TB or more if it supports them)
I have a 5D3. It has a maximum capacity for 64 TB. I've removed small 2TB drives and added 4TB and larger drives and it has increased the storage appropriately. It was not limited by the smallest drive.
https://myproducts.drobo.com/retrieve/s3/knowledge/AA/AA-01124.html
If Drobo desired it could change the firmware and software for the 5D3 and go beyond 64TB.
As Bob said, I don't see a need for server quality drives.
I've had good experiences with my Drobos. I have a 3 year old 5D3 and two 7 year old 4 bay Drobos that are running just fine.
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I have a 5D3. It has a maximum capacity for 64 TB. I've removed small 2TB drives and added 4TB and larger drives and it has increased the storage appropriately. It was not limited by the smallest drive.
Correct. I have changed "smallest" to "smaller".
The point was that if you have a 5 bay system with 5 x 3TB drives in it and it becomes full then taking out a 3TB drive and replacing it with a 6TB drive does not give you 6 more TB. Obviously you have taken 3 out to start with and you do not get the additional 3TB anyway because other drives have to provide redundancy for it. If you have a 5 bay system with 3 larger drives in it then adding an additional drive makes a lot more space.
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Correct. I have changed "smallest" to "smaller".
The point was that if you have a 5 bay system with 5 x 3TB drives in it and it becomes full then taking out a 3TB drive and replacing it with a 6TB drive does not give you 6 more TB. Obviously you have taken 3 out to start with and you do not get the additional 3TB anyway because other drives have to provide redundancy for it. If you have a 5 bay system with 3 larger drives in it then adding an additional drive makes a lot more space.
You're correct. That's just simple math if you don't adjust space for redundancy on the additional drive. If you add a 6TB drive as in your scenario some of that 6TB will be lost to adding redundancy across that 5 bay system which now has 4 drives.
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Many of you seem to be on top of your game so here is a question from someone who doesn't know much about computers or redundant drive systems.
With the Drobo drive I cut back to 2-4tb drives with the rest of the bays empty. (Cost savings)
1 drive for images and the other for backup.
Is their any reason to fill those other drives to start? Presently 65,000 images spread out over 4 different drives on my current Mac Pro.
Chris Kern commented before about migrating all these images to the new computer.
Since they are presently spread over those 3 drives plus an external 2 TB Lacie I want all the images together in the one 4 TB Drobo drive.
I am assuming it can be done and I will not have to be dealing with "The file cannot be found"
If I am going to get all the potential out of these drives now is the time to upgrade the drive purchase if necessary.
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As i understand you have a machine with 1 TB SSD ( this drive will do 2400MB/second)
and two Sata drives in the Drobo. One for backup and one for images.These drives will do 200MB /second.
The idea of the drobo is that with more disks you have a RAID with more speed and safety over your files. ( up to 300mb/sec and no risk of losing data due to faulty disks)
In general
You have a very fast compurter with a veryfast SSD connected to a a slow DROBO.
If your LR catalogue is on the Drobo it will be not the fast solution your iMac is capable of- you need something like this)
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/express-4m2
( the Drobo interface is fast , but the drives are slow)
1 it is clear you have to run your work on the 1TB SSD to get all the portential out of the iMac- or connect a LR catalogue stored on a pci-SSD.
2 Your backup should be larger than 5 TB - i would choose 8 TB at least. ( it has to backup the images (4TB) and the (1TB) SSD in time)
what I think is important:
safety of your files _
If you computer gets stolen what is left?
If you harddisk turns bad - what is left?
Make sure your backup takes all data for a length of time and have one extra in another physical place to reduce these risks.
- how do i use the potential of the machine i just bought.
Considering a 8TB sata disks cost about 200$ it is not the place to reduce costs.
It is personal choice how to deal with these potential problems.
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Hey dgberg,
So there is no such thing as redundancy within a Drobo. Think of the Drobo as a unit - where there can be some redundancy in the unit (hard drive goes bad). The Drobo's run software that sits between your Mac & the hard drives. A hard drive from a Drobo can't be read by anything else.
If you want to have 2 drives, one for images, one for backup, you'd be better looking at a standard USB-SATA enclosure. OWC makes some good ones and they are cheaper than the Drobo's as they don't have the additional functionality (RAID, etc).
Now to echo what kers is saying, you really should consider what is the slowest part of your computer. If your normal shooting style, Lightroom Library & 'active projects' folder can live on your internal 1tb NVMe drive, and the external 4tb is for your 'archive', it's fine. If you're going to be actively working on files on the 4tb drive, you really should restructure this with additional SSD/NVMe space to the Mac - the spinning rust is going to be the slowest part of the computer. This could be done via a USB-C enclosure that holds the 4tb drive, or be stacked on top of it.
+1 to doing a 8tb drive as a local backup / TimeMachine setup - Costco has external 8tb's for $140 most the time. You don't mention what other backup methods you do such as Backblaze, so we're just trying to cover all the basis.
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Side note:
The Drobo 5D3 sports Thunderbolt 3. As such it can move data pretty quickly at 300MB/sec or more depending on the HDD you choose. You can look at their list of SSDs that are compatible as well. The 5D3 doesn't have to be slow.
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Hey dgberg,
So there is no such thing as redundancy within a Drobo. Think of the Drobo as a unit - where there can be some redundancy in the unit (hard drive goes bad). The Drobo's run software that sits between your Mac & the hard drives. A hard drive from a Drobo can't be read by anything else.
If you want to have 2 drives, one for images, one for backup, you'd be better looking at a standard USB-SATA enclosure. OWC makes some good ones and they are cheaper than the Drobo's as they don't have the additional functionality (RAID, etc).
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+1 to doing a 8tb drive as a local backup / TimeMachine setup - Costco has external 8tb's for $140 most the time. You don't mention what other backup methods you do such as Backblaze, so we're just trying to cover all the basis.
Sorry, but you first sentence is completely wrong. Of course Drobo provides redundancy. It does not provide backup. However neither does two drives in the same enclosure or any other system where the data on the second drive changes as you change the data on the first drive.
Redundancy is the ability to continue working if there is a failure. In reality, most photographers don't need this as long as they can get back working is a reasonable (same day) time.
Backup is the ability to recover from a failure. Create a file on Monday, delete it by mistake on Tuesday, recover it easily on Wednesday. You do that using a static snapshot of the drives taken before the failure. Time Machine does this using hourly backups by default.
What Drobo offers is the ability to easily grow a storage system and that is the key feature. In a world where storage needs grow rapidly that is a real selling point. Redundancy is a bonus.
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Hey Bob,
I stand by my statement - the Drobo can be configured to be resilient to a single or double drive failure, but the Drobo will only create a single volume (disk pool). You can't build 2 separate RAID1 pairs. You can't say take these 4 drives and setup RAID5 but I want to leave this extra disk as a separate volume - the Drobo wants to own & control everything inside it. The way to think of a Drobo is that it's got it's own computer inside it. It 'presents' a drive to your computer and hides all the details in the background. The Drobo 5D3 has a mSATA slot on the bottom for caching support - this is something you'd see on a NAS, but Drobo wraps it all up & hides it behind a single drive letter (or disk label). That's how it can do thin provisioning & disk expansion.
If the purpose is to put 2 drives into a Drobo, have one drive backup to the other (using GoodSync/ChronoSync/Hedge/etc), then it is the wrong solution and you want a USB-C to multi-bay SATA enclosure. If you put 2 drives in a Drobo & have them Mirror (RAID1) then backup that Drobo to a separate external disk, it'll be fine, but overkill.
A Drobo 5D3 is $680 without any disks in it. It's the fun pricing of TB3 devices. If someone is only using an enclosure for spinning hard drives, USB-C is a much cheaper option - you're not going to saturate the connection between the box & the computer. If you're using multiple SSD's then you really to spend for the TB3 bandwidth.
-Joe
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Hey Bob,
I stand by my statement - the Drobo can be configured to be resilient to a single or double drive failure, but the Drobo will only create a single volume (disk pool) ...
You did not make that statement.
Your statement was QUOTE "So there is no such thing as redundancy within a Drobo" UNQUOTE and I replied "Sorry, but you first sentence is completely wrong" (which it is).
Drobo provides redundancy, or the ability to resist failure. Redundancy does not necessarily mean a mirror.
The statement "If you put 2 drives in a Drobo & have them Mirror (RAID1)" indicates that you are not familiar with Drobo. Drobo drives run on a proprietary self healing system. It does not work in Raid configurations. They call it "Beyond RAID". Raid is by contrast, generally a fixed arrangement.
Drobo does not however provide backup. What it does is to allow the data or a backup system to grow, which a single drive does not. Backup requires multiple discrete systems, or Drobo or two discrete disks or any combination (as you indicate)
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...Drobo drives run on a proprietary self healing system. It does not work in Raid configurations. They call it "Beyond RAID". Raid is by contrast, generally a fixed arrangement.
Drobo does not however provide backup. What it does is to allow the data or a backup system to grow, which a single drive does not. Backup requires multiple discrete systems, or Drobo or two discrete disks or any combination (as you indicate)
So if i understand correctly with a two disk Drobo Dan Berg still has to have a backup.
I can imagine it starts to dazzle for him, with all this discussion...
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::)
Here I thought 1 drive for photos and the other mirrored for backup. If one quits the other one still has all my photos, right or wrong?
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You did not make that statement.
Your statement was QUOTE "So there is no such thing as redundancy within a Drobo" UNQUOTE and I replied "Sorry, but you first sentence is completely wrong" (which it is).
Drobo provides redundancy, or the ability to resist failure. Redundancy does not necessarily mean a mirror.
The statement "If you put 2 drives in a Drobo & have them Mirror (RAID1)" indicates that you are not familiar with Drobo. Drobo drives run on a proprietary self healing system. It does not work in Raid configurations. They call it "Beyond RAID". Raid is by contrast, generally a fixed arrangement.
Drobo does not however provide backup. What it does is to allow the data or a backup system to grow, which a single drive does not. Backup requires multiple discrete systems, or Drobo or two discrete disks or any combination (as you indicate)
Bob, you seem to be splitting hairs, thinking your knife is sharper. I made that statement, and then followed it with specifics as to what the Drobo does offer. I then went into how the Drobo is handling things regarding it's internal functions. I simplified my description on how a 5 bay Drobo with 2 identical disks are setup, equating it RAID1 - yes, this is not using the BeyondRAID technical labels, but it's the same effective outcome - all data is on 2 physical drives.
Your point is? What else in either of my posts do you think is wrong? I am a firm believer that storage (and computing) has to be kept simple. Based on the questions asked so far, I'm hesitant to recommend anything complex.
I don't think a Drobo is needed for 4TB of data - there are better, simpler solutions available. Having a 4TB drive for photos, and a 8TB drive backing up both the 1TB NVMe & the photos drive using TimeMachine is really a great place to be. If you want to be more active, adding an offsite via BackBlaze makes it even better (make sure to exclude the 8TB TimeMachine drive). Want to be more protected, switch from a single 4TB to something like a MyBook Duo & set it in RAID1 - 8TB MyBook Duo is $330 (has 2x 4TB hard drives, so in RAID1 mode it's 4TB of space).
The use cases for a Drobo is for larger data sets (greater than a single drive) or need the performance of multiple drives (but not the performance of SSD or NVMe). I would also say that a Drobo user is near the same technical level user as a NAS - both have upkeep needs, but the Drobo is easier to manage. For me, the starting point to consider a Drobo is around 10TB of current data, and expected growth of 2TB per year. I'd put in 5x 6TB drives, with double parity/RAID6/dual disk protection. Higher growth - go with larger disks. The key difference between a Drobo or NAS decision is if the user is at a single desktop, or is sharing files across multiple machines or is a laptop user who like to work on a couch.
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::)
Here I thought 1 drive for photos and the other mirrored for backup. If one quits the other one still has all my photos, right or wrong?
Yea, it's a bit of a head spin. So there's mirroring or there is backup. Think of them as separate options. In mirroring, a chance to drive A is written at the same time to drive B (Drobo, MyBook Duo, SoftRAID, or other similar setups). In backup, a change to drive A is copied to drive B on a schedule - it could be every 5 minutes, it could be every night (TimeMachine, GoodSync, or other similar software).
Let's step back and talk about workflow for a second. When you import photos to your computer, do you have it erase the photos from the cards? As long as you don't erase the photos as part of the import, TimeMachine will back them up within an hour, or you can even force it to happen by clicking the icon and say 'Backup Now'. Do you do a lot of work in Photoshop directly with the files, or is it all in Lightroom? Are you going to be working on files in a folder on say your desktop, then when you're done move them off to a Photos drive with all your other images?
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I presently have no backup, no time machine.
Import into Lightroom, name a new folder in pictures on my 2 tb drive and import.
Take the card out and format in camera.
When I process (mostly in Lightroom) i go to the folder and work on the Images.
Thats it.
I want to solve the no backup issue.
Feel pretty lucky to never have lost anything in 10 years.
Let the bashing begin.
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I admit to being pedantic about backup. I worked in the IT industry for a long time and the results of a mistake were either bad or very bad.
I have only ever lost photos twice, and both times were the result of cards, so I regard them as the weakest link. These days I shoot to 2 cards simultaneously so the problem is much less. I would never use an "import and delete method". I always copy the card files using the computer finder to the storage drive. The files are then renamed using a reverse date system plus original file name. The files on the card are only deleted once the storage drive has been backed up. I have 3 rotating backup disks (and a Drobo). One connected, one on the shelf and one off site.
My storage over the years has grown and is now about 3.5TB. I once had a storage of 15OMB and called it "My Big Drive". Every time you replace a disk drive with a bigger one though (on a Mac at least), the computer knows that it is a different drive. That means that your previous links and referenced files no longer work. I fixed the reference files by moving the DAM catalogue to the storage disk. When you go to back it up though it creates a complete new backup, as it regards it as a new disk. So if you have a 4TB data disk and it becomes full or fails, you can restore the disk to a new one of the same size or bigger, but the TimeMachine will tell you the backup disk is full. You therefore have cascading problem.
I therefore moved my storage to Drobo and can grow the disk and it is still regarded as the same disk. Even if the housing fails (which has happened) Drobo sends me a new one and I put the same drives in it and the computer regards it as the same disk.
For backup I just use standard external hard drives. If they get too small I just put the disks in a Drobo. Don't use a Drobo as your only backup disk though as it does not give you the ability to drag and drop easily.
I wrote a blog on storage in about 2010 called Your Digital Legacy. A bit old now but the basics are the same. You can find it by searching here http://www.takemoreholidays.com/blog/
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I presently have no backup, no time machine.
Import into Lightroom, name a new folder in pictures on my 2 tb drive and import.
Take the card out and format in camera.
When I process (mostly in Lightroom) i go to the folder and work on the Images.
Thats it.
I want to solve the no backup issue.
Feel pretty lucky to never have lost anything in 10 years.
Let the bashing begin.
Great to hear, I think I'll make a number of recommendations that Bob will agree with.
For starters, we need to get you doing some type of backup. The best/cheapest in the USA is with BackBlaze - it's $6 a month per computer, unlimited upload & storage, and can backup external disks as well. That'll get your data outside your home - just in case it decides to grow legs or otherwise make itself scarce.
Since you may not have the fastest upload, nor want to wait hours/days to download or receive a drive from Backblaze, snag a single 8tb desktop drive from Costco, or your favorite online retailer. It should be between $140 and $180, and setup TimeMachine on your Mac. It'll give you lots of recovery for accidental image edits, plus it's can be used to restore your whole computer if you ever had to take it in to Apple for repair. Trust me on this, everything is permanently attached to the main board & to fix it they replace that board.
The last step I'm up in the air about, and hope that Bob will chime in with ideas. If you have 2TB of data now, and aren't adding a whole lot (planning for 4tb) you might want to consider going with a single 4tb SSD in a USB-C enclosure. They're about $600 (Samsung 860 EVO or WB Blue - don't go any cheaper**) and an enclosure is another $50 - putting them together these days doesn't even take a screw driver. The other options are either a solo external 4tb drive or a device like the MyBook Duo 8TB configured for mirroring. I think a Drobo or NAS would be overkill, overcomplicate & otherwise just cause problems. I'm not worried about wearing out the SSD, the volume of copies just isn't there.
The ** are for a Micron drive that I'm eye'ing personally - https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Micron/AK3T8TBY1A/ 4TB SATA disk for $370. I'm having personal storage issues and can't decide between the space of the 4TB SATA SSD or the speed of a 2TB NVMe external drive. Micron is the company behind Crucial, they're in Boise, ID - and I've used their stuff a lot over the years.
Either way you go, it's going to be a lot faster than your current computer, and the 2 separate backups you have going (TimeMachine & BackBlaze) will cover you for most any disaster****.
My only other recommendation would be to move to a rotation of flash cards for your camera. Pick up an additional card or two, that way when you get done importing the images, you can set that card aside, pull out the previously set aside card, and format that one for your next photo. Lightroom will detect if you're importing duplicate images, plus if something catastrophic happens between import and both the backups completing, you still have the unedited images.
-Joe
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Greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dan
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......
The ** are for a Micron drive that I'm eye'ing personally - https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Micron/AK3T8TBY1A/ 4TB SATA disk for $370. I'm having personal storage issues and can't decide between the space of the 4TB SATA SSD or the speed of a 2TB NVMe external drive. Micron is the company behind Crucial, they're in Boise, ID - and I've used their stuff a lot over the years.
.....
-Joe
I just bought 2 of the 4TB Micron drives from OWC at that price for use as storage while I'm on the road. I had bought 2 of the Micron 2TB versions a while ago through Amazon (at a lower price than the 2TB Samsung at the time). I used them as a 4TB Raid 0 for fast LR and PS editing of recent work (all Raws and print ready files copied to 3 other places mind you). The Raid worked fine and got used a lot (although I'm not a pro, so not every or all day). I switched the drives out with a pair of 4TB Samsung when I needed to go larger (before the Micron version was available).
I had a problem with one of the pair of Micron 4TB drives I just bought, it kept repartitioning itself with a 2TB partition and the rest, and going off line, quite randomly (Win10). Reformatting was the only way to get it accessible again but it would do it again. OWC swapped it out for me and the new one seems fine, but I need to exercise both drives over the next month or so to make sure they are both stable.
Mike
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I think I should add one thing for the general public. IT folks are an interesting bunch - ask 10 of us the same question, and you'll get 10 different answers, at least 9 of which are correct. We all have different ways of accomplishing the same thing, be it brands we like or hate (mostly from personal experience) to the 'proper way to do' statements.
We all swear at Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Intel, HP, Samsung and every other tech vendor out there - anyone who tells you otherwise has religious restrictions on their word usage. ;D There is no magic hardware, secret guaranteed to work for everyone & every situation method. We all build our protection against data loss in different ways, so mapping out a plan that works best for you is critical.
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Having a plan is a great thing. If you do that then you are ahead of most. However a plan is only the first step.
Most of us probably had a plan to be rich and retired at the age of 40, but it did not happen.
Deming created a process called Plan, Do, Check Act. You plan something, you do it, you check how it works. If the plan has flaws you act to change the plan and repeat.
The simplest check that you can do what is my basic test of Backup.
Create a file on Monday, delete it by mistake on Tuesday, recover it easily on Wednesday.
If you can't do that for one file then you have no chance with all of you life's work.
Once you have that nailed then buy a spare disk and try a complete restore of all of your data from backup. Can you do it? Would it happen in a day or less? If it takes six months then you do not have a viable working system.