Easiest way to backup a 12TB NAS?

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Mysteriouskk

Weaksauce
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Oct 21, 2006
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I have some important files on the 12TB NAS, so I want to backup the NAS somehow. It is currently using Flexraid.

How can I backup my NAS?
 
Depends on a few things.

For me I decided Cloud backup was the easiest. I also have a 12TB FlexRAID array with 9TB of data on it. It's all backed up to CrashPlan's cloud servers.

For me it was a good solution because it's so cheap at $34 a year for unlimited storage. It's easy as in I just installed it, set it and left it be.
 
I would like to backup all 12TB. All important

It also needs to be able to verify all the data matches weekly.
 
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Well already gave my Cloud storage option which is good, unless you have a slow upload or limited internet. I have 5 Mbit upload and unlimited bandwidth and that was enough for several TB for me.

The only other option you really have would be to build an identical NAS and run software on one of them to either push or pull the data from one to the other.

You obviously need storage for 12TB, so the cheapest way is 4 3TB disks. Then you obviously need a way to access the disks. External is what many people do, but with 12TB you don't want to have to be constantly juggling the disks and run out of USB ports or USB bandwidth.

The big limit you want is weekly verification. So you really need all of the source and all of the backup online at once so you can run this verify process automatically.

Rather than build another identical NAS you could get a larger serve case with room for 16, 20, 24 whatever disks and create a second separate FlexRAID array. That way you don't need a new CPU/RAM/Motherboard. You can get a PCIe card with SAS connectors and connect 8 more SATA disks that way.

But then problem then is your backup would be in the same place so a fire or theft or some destructive force would wipe out both copies.

If your Internet is indeed limited or slow then the only way is to use external disks and carry them offsite yourself to a safety deposit box or a friends home but that would be extremely time consuming to run weekly verifications.

If you want both weekly verifications and offsite safety then Could is really your only bet. In addition to CrashPlan, Backblaze is also good for many TB of data and cheap pricing.
 
one possibility
1. 8-bay external eSATA/USB3.0 enclosure to existing PC
2. 8 units of 3TB hard disk.

or else
1. 8-bay external eSATA/USB3.0 enclosure connected to existing PC
2. 8 units of 4TB hard disk.

2nd option is more expensive but since it has max 32TB, there are many options where it will make the backup/snapshot/review/misc operation easy, if you engage personal effort.

If you do not want to spend much personal time, then another 8-bay prosumer-level NAS seems reasonable as they already have software ready to go for end user. It will cost more overall.

else the cloud backup is a consideration as well, but dependant on bandwidth availability.
 
I would do local backup first either on the same machine or preferably another one. 12TB over the Internet is going to take days using any cloud based solution. If it took 2 or 3 days (depending on your service provider likely more...way more) to back it up it, it will take at least 1 day or more to restore. Any local backup solution would do it in hours not days.

Cloud based solutions make complete sense for gigs, once you get to a TB or more things start to look impractical.
 
The other thing you have to remember with cloud storage solutions is recovery. Sure you may be able to get 12TB to the server over a few days; but are you going to wait days to recover?

A local solution would be the best. The only thing is you would have to duplicate the HDD capacity.
 
What does "It also needs to be able to verify all the data matches weekly" mean?

It is easy and cheap to copy 12TB to hard drives and store them in a safe deposit box.

It is easy and cheap enough to use XCopy to make backups of the previous week's changes. Store these backups in the safe deposit box also.

Once a year start over doing the full backup and purging the weekly backups.

Recovery takes a hour of so.
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How do all these people suddenly need to back up multi TBs of important data?
 
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