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Time to build a real backup solution

V

vitalym

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
295
I decided it's time to upgrade my external hard drive to something a little more robust

I have a spare HP z420 that I will use with 16gb of ram
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04111468.pdf?ver=7

I have 4x 500GB hard drives, 8x 256GB SSDs

My needs are desktop backups and a place to store and stream my media, I have about 1TB of data

I'd like to run plex off of the NAS so I'm looking at FreeNAS since it has a handy plugin
Otherwise my concern is storage and reliability - not so much speed

FEED ME KNOWLEDGE
 
I've heard lots about them and I will look into the cloud too but right now I'd like to run something at home simply because I have the hardware laying around.
 
Sounds like you just make a nas out of that system and put everything to work without issue. (y)
 
is that really a backup?

Drives die
Power surge
mobo fails

list goes on.. that is a storage server...not a backup.
 
MrGuvernment said:
is that really a backup?

Drives die
Power surge
mobo fails

list goes on.. that is a storage server...not a backup.
Click to expand...

What's the difference between storing it in the cloud? They also run off drive and can suffer the same issues.

I'm looking into running a raid z2 which supports up to 2 drive failures, have it behind a surge protector, etc.

Online backup companies have been known to lose data so nothing is fool proof
 
It's a backup if it holds redundant data from other devices.

And 1 major advantage of ZFS is the ability to move a pool to other hardware later, which makes it easier to recover from mobo/HBA/etc. failure than most storage setups. Of course, you still should have some sort of regular, external backup of the NAS as well.

With 4x 500GB, a single RZ2 (or mirrors) won't provide enough storage. You could use all 8x SSDs for 1.5TB raw, but that's an awfully expensive way to get that kind of capacity. And you'll have little room for growth after overhead & following the "stay below 80%" advice for ZFS.

Best solution is to buy bigger drives or split your data across 2 pools. But there's nothing wrong with starting with hardware you already own, at least to learn how it all works & plan your next steps.

I have no experience with Plex but feel FreeNAS is fine for your plans. Looks like you'll need an HBA, so find whatever LSI SAS2 card you like. A "8i" HBA will allow 600GB of (fast!) usable space on 4x SSDs in RZ1 + roughly 800GB on HDs in either RZ2 or 2x mirrors. That'll get you started, and the only costs are the HBA, cables & time.
 
vitalym said:
What's the difference between storing it in the cloud? They also run off drive and can suffer the same issues.

I'm looking into running a raid z2 which supports up to 2 drive failures, have it behind a surge protector, etc.

Online backup companies have been known to lose data so nothing is fool proof
Click to expand...
Online cloud sites have your data stored across massive arrays and often multiple location. if your backup provider lost your data you need to find a better provider. There is no comparison to a local server in your house to a good cloud provider.
 
vitalym said:
What's the difference between storing it in the cloud? They also run off drive and can suffer the same issues.

I'm looking into running a raid z2 which supports up to 2 drive failures, have it behind a surge protector, etc.

Online backup companies have been known to lose data so nothing is fool proof
Click to expand...

The biggest concern outside of hardware failures is natural disasters. Keeping impossible to replace files in a cloud service or off site location is important if it critical those files need to be saved. If you don't have this need then you probably don't need to worry about it.
 
A very many years ago, I was looking for a local-network backup solution and came across Amanda, which runs on Linux. I mention it here only as a thing that exists that you might look into, but I actually couldn't tell you whether it's worth it or not - I didn't ever dig into it because other things came up.

(As it is, I don't have a backup solution per se - but the only local files that I would care about losing are some documents that get synced to Google Drive, and development projects, which exist on GitHub already.)
 
"I'm gonna take you by surprise
And make you realize,
Amanda
I'm gonna tell you right away,
I can't wait another day,
Amanda
I'm gonna say it like a man
And make you understand
Amanda"

:ROFLMAO:
 
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