Less expensive storage option - feedback please

[Enormous]

I think I have finally convinced my wife that we need a better storage solution for our important files. I've got about a $400 budget to work with.

My current setup is:
-SageTV server with 160GB drive (OS/recordings), 2 x 300GB drives (recordings), and a 1.5TB drive (recordings/music/DVDs)
-Gaming machine with 2 x 300GB drives in a RAID1 array through mobo controller (main music collection, pictures, home video)

My goal is to fully utilize my always-on SageTV server, and to implement some sort of redundancy AND backup.

My plan is:
-Use existing 1.5TB driver for SageTV recordings
-Using 2 x 2TB drives, implement a FlexRaid array for storing music, pictures, home videos and DVDs (with possible addition of more drives in the future)
-Another 2TB drive in an external enclosure for regular backup of irreplaceable pictures, home videos, etc.

Parts list:
2TB HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152202

External enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182162

Does this sound feasible? I know that a true RAID 5 solution with a hardware controller would be ideal, but unfortunately that's just not in the cards ($$$). Any feedback/ideas are appreciated!

[GKusnick]

Im my opinion RAID is not about safeguarding your data. It's about minimizing downtime. As such it's appropriate for mission-critical systems that must remain up and running. But I don't see any special advantage to using RAID to store your family snapshots, since it won't protect you from a disaster like a house fire or lightning strike that takes out all your on-site equipment.

For that you need some form of offsite backup, such as an online backup service or an external drive in a safe deposit box at the bank. And if you're going to do that (which you should), then RAID isn't really buying you any additional protection. All it can do is save time in getting things back up again in the case of single drive failure. So if you're looking to save money, I'd say skip the RAID and focus on a real backup solution that duplicates your important data offsite.

[Enormous]

Agreed. I neglected to mention that in addition to the above I am looking at storing the photos off-site using Google's Picasa (you can get 80GB for $20/year, 200GB for $50/year).

[sic0048]

I think that works fine. I would recommend that you get a 2nd external drive when money allows. That way you can easily swap drives to an offsite location (work, families house, safe deposit box, etc). Having just one external drive usually means it is always left connected to the machine. That won't protect you in a fire, flood, robbery, etc, etc, etc.

I'd personally forgo the annual "cloud storage" solution and use two drives that are regularly swapped out with 1 being onsite and the other being off site. Or perhaps you keep a small cloud storage account and only keep the "new" files on it. Anything that has been created since the last drive was taken off site. Then erase those files when you back everything up to the 2nd drive and carry it off site.

Of course you can never have too much protection either!

[GKusnick]

If you're like me and act as unofficial IT guy for your parents or in-laws, then another approach to offsite storage is to set up a file server or NAS at their house connected by VPN to your LAN. Then you can use scheduled tasks or whatever to mirror your data to their site (and their data to your site) without having to pay a monthly fee or carry physical drives back and forth.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

If you're like me and act as unofficial IT guy for your parents or in-laws, then another approach to offsite storage is to set up a file server or NAS at their house connected by VPN to your LAN. Then you can use scheduled tasks or whatever to mirror your data to their site (and their data to your site) without having to pay a monthly fee or carry physical drives back and forth.

This is what I do, but in my dad's case, he has a always on SageTV recorder too, so all my personal data is on his to. On big stuff, I use sneaker-net (or in this case, automobile-net (250+ miles)) and an external drive to move files ever time I go.

[tchapin]

I'm looking into using CrashPlan to store my data offsite. You install it on your computer and on a friend's or family member's and it does the backups automatically.

[wrems]

What about sticking one of those Pogoplug devices at a friends house and mirroring your important data there?

[Enormous]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. Unfortunately I don't personally know anyone else who is running a 24/7 server in their home. So the local/friend/family backup option wouldn't work.

To add another tidbit: I'll probably be upgrading my server to Windows 7 64-bit Professional along with this. Anyone have experience with FlexRaid in a situation similar?

[wrems]

The Pogoplug wouldn't require a 24/7 server. Just an external hard drive. I'm thinking about getting one for this purpose.