Practicality of backing up huge hard drives (was Re: [mythtv-users] Dieing Hard Drive)

Ron Johnson ron.l.johnson at cox.net
Tue Mar 15 14:42:34 UTC 2005


On Tue, 2005-03-15 at 08:24 -0600, Brian Donaldson wrote:
> > 
> > You got any good ideas on how to back up, for example, a 2/3 full
> > 250GB HDD?
> 
> I ran into the same problem with my MythTV video and mp3 archive.  My
> video and mp3 archives are on a Windows server that MythTV accesses
> via NFS.  A tape drive would be nice, but I still think they're
> expensive.  Besides, I needed to backup close to 400GB of audio and
> video and my need for capacity is only going to get larger.  I decided
> the cheapest solution was just to buy additional hard drives.
> 
> I built two identical Windows servers, both with 500GB of hard drive
> space.  I just spanned the hard drives in each machine to create one
> logical 500GB drive in each.  This way I can easily add additional
> space to both machines without destroying the existing data.  The two
> machines are connected via gigabit cards and a cross-over CAT5E cable
> for fast backups.  The primary machine copies all new or changed files
> to the backup server every night.  Both machines are also on a UPS. 
> It's not bullet-proof, but it's close enough for me and it solves my
> backup problem and my increasing need for storage.  In total I only
> spent about $600 for the complete setup (gigabit cards, hard drives,
> big power supplies and everything).  Thank goodness for clearance and
> rebate deals (i.e. slickdeals.net, dealnews.com, fatwallet.com)
> 
> The following USENET thread discusses the same issue:
> 
> http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.arch.storage/browse_thread/thread/b3787ea10f143ae1/6e1ee18b61fecba3?q=author:bdonaldson@hotmail.com#6e1ee18b61fecba3
> 
> Any suggestions/feedback regarding my setup would be greatly
> appreciated.  Thanks!

If you need 2 machines for other reasons, then obviously that's
the way to go.  If you just need to backup files, big drives and
firewire enclosures are the cheap way.

Stuff this puppy with 320GB drives, and you'll be set for a (little)
while!
http://www.cooldrives.com/ulrafi800qub.html

-- 
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Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson, LA USA
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I can't make you have an abortion, but you can *make* me pay
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