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Author Topic: storage and backup solution  (Read 5182 times)

Dward

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storage and backup solution
« on: November 18, 2019, 09:38:52 am »

I have a Mac Pro with two LaCie 12tb drives attached.  One backs up to the other each evening using SuperDuper, and I have an  additional 12tb drive stored off site that I back up once a week.   But the 12tb drives are getting close to full, and I'm looking for additional space and backup capability.  I could of course just buy larger drives and continue to do what I'm currently doing, but I'd happily consider alternate solutions.   Thanks in advance for your ideas!

David V. Ward, Ph. D.
David V. Ward Fine Art Photography
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BobShaw

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2019, 04:18:19 pm »

How much actual data do you have? You need a backup up disk much bigger. At least twice the size.
I personally see no reason to use anything other than Time Machine. It is free and has performed almost flawlessly for me for 10 years. I have never lost any data.
Drobo is a good data storage solution because you can just grow it seamlessly.
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rdonson

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2019, 08:01:55 pm »

Have 3 Drobos.  Two old 4 bay Drobo and a 5 bay Drobo that is much newer.  I've had no hardware issues with them at all.

The only issue I had with the 4bay Drobos was about 6 years ago.  There was an issue with Time Machine and the Drobos.  Both Drobo and Apple said they worked flawlessly. They didn't.  This was resolved eventually but that's when I lot faith in Time Machine and I've been VERY happy with my move to Carbon Copy Cloner.
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Ron

BobShaw

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2019, 08:24:23 pm »

There was an issue with Time Machine and the Drobos.  Both Drobo and Apple said they worked flawlessly. They didn't.  This was resolved eventually but that's when I lot faith in Time Machine and I've been VERY happy with my move to Carbon Copy Cloner.
I would never rely on Drobo as a backup solution either. Terrific as a storage solution though. I do use one Drobo for backup but it is only in conjunction with three other single disk drives. It is my backup of last resort because it will never be filled.

The main problem with Drobo as a backup solution is that the available storage size reported is massively different to the physical size possible. For example I just did CMD-I on my Drobo 5D and it says that there is 64TB available, but I only have three x 3TB disks in it. There was a firmware update but another issue with Drobo as a backup is that they don't store in a drag and drop format.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2019, 04:34:05 pm by BobShaw »
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rdonson

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2019, 09:22:18 pm »

I'm sorry if I confused things. 

My backup for my Macs are 4TB external HDs attached to each Mac not Drobos.  I still prefer CCC to Time Machine though.  Time Machine always wanted to run when I was in the middle of something.  I use the Drobos for my photography and video storage and use CCC to backup from the main 5 bay Drobo to the other 2 4 bay Drobos. 
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Dward

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2019, 10:57:51 am »

Thanks for all your thoughtful suggestions--I'm investigating Drobo instead of a standard RAID machine.    And I've been using SuperDuper, but I'll take a look at CCC as backup software.

I've got 12tb of images to manage, and I like keeping them all in one Lightroom catalog, so I'm considering something along the lines of a 48tb Drobo.

thanks again!

David Ward
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BobShaw

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2019, 04:38:01 pm »

I've got 12tb of images to manage, and I like keeping them all in one Lightroom catalog, so I'm considering something along the lines of a 48tb Drobo.
I suggest that you put the Lightroom catalog on the same disk as the originals. I have all of my catalogues that way, Aperture, Photos, Lightroom etc so they can all access the same originals and I can move to another computer by just plugging it in.

Time Machine doesn't just have to run every hour. You can obviously turn it off, but there are many utilities to vary the run time. When I had my files on a server I used Time Machine Editor and just had it set to run every night at 1AM.

Cheers.
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Joe Towner

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2019, 03:29:59 pm »

Hey David,

So the easy thing to do is to split your collection from a single 12tb drive to between disks.  Of that 12tb, how much was shot in the last year or two?
By moving 6-8TB of old data off the constantly access 'active' drive to a 'archive' designated drive, you accomplish a few things:

- Free up space on your 'active' drive
- Shorten your backup/sync time (since it's only backing up the active drive)
- Create static, point in time reference for the 'archive' drive (example of 1990-2006 or such) that can be duplicated

Say you went to Costco & grabbed 3 of the $120 8tb drives.  I'd fill one up with a good 'archive' set of ~7TB of data, then SuperDuper that drive twice, one for a local offline copy, and a 3rd for the offsite backup copy.  Then just keep doing what you're doing with the current 12TB Lacie drives, just with that now 'archived' data on a separate disk.

If you needed to work on something from the archive set, create a root folder on the 12TB Lacie and copy it over from the archive drive & work on it there.

Don't over complicate things, especially since management of the data can become a larger hassle.  Lightroom is fine with it - just right click the 'missing' folder and update its' location on the archive drive.

-Joe
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Joe Towner

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Re: storage and backup solution
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2019, 03:42:44 pm »

This topic should be moved to the right place - https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?board=34.0
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