GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

I had RAID 1 set up on 2 drives in an enclosure, connected to my computer. Unfortunately, BOTH drives failed at the same time, causing a near total loss of my data (some of the data was backed up on other external drives and/or CDs/DVDs). I also have BackBlaze but these files were not there either. I'm using a MAC Big Sur 11.6.2.

I took the drives to a computer guy to possibly retrieve the data and had quite a lengthily discussion on the NAS backup SYSTEM. This is your own personal "cloud" because it is connected via the internet and WiFi and not attached to the computer. He also said that I should unmount the drives when I am not using them and to shut down the computer. This is not a practice that I have been following.

I have done extensive research on setting up NAS, including searching this site. I am considering either Synology DiskStation or WD MyCloud EX. I would like at least 4 bays. Currently I have 2 WD Red Plus drives that are 2TB each. Currently, they are independent and in an enclosure that is connected to the computer. I was debating about leaving them that way and purchasing a third drive to store a backup copy of my data to keep off site. If I go with a NAS system, another backup is still recommended. I have thousands of pictures dating back to 1900 (scanned or other).

4 questions:

1) Do you only mount your drives when you are using them? If so, then BackBlaze is pointless.
2) Is a NAS system the best option or should I just keep 3 separate drives?
3) Recommendations for a NAS system (either what I am considering or something different).
3) My computer guy recommended Raid 5 but that does not mirror my data. Instead, should I use Raid 10?

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I don't use Nas or raid mainly because I don't understand them. However I use Drobo Raid+ with four drives, I save to three drives manually and the fourth is For my Time machine Back up.
I Do dismount my drives when not in use, be this good or bad I has worked for me for a good number of years with one drive failure which I replaced and copied all files from drive #2 .

tcthome Loc: NJ

Why is backblaze pointless? It should be done from the computer (IMHO). Your NAS system is another copy (or copies) of your info from your computer. Key words neing copies of your files from your computer!

VTMatwood Loc: Displaced Vermonta in Central New Hampsha

I am currently setting up a new storage plan for my home... this is timely. I have a three tiered storage strategy that I'll be implementing that does not include online services.

Tier 1: local USB drives attached to each PC (all Windows 10) for local weekly full backups

Tier 2: NAS storage (not RAID as I like simplicity and don't want the cost involved in a RAID system) using a Linux box and numerous attached USB 3 drives (located in my basement connected to my router). I have ~12TB of NAS storage in this configuration. The weekly backups are copied to the NAS drives by a batch file script using Robocopy.

Tier 3: On my main PC (where I do LR and PS work), there are a series of batch commands using Robocopy that copy certain items to a separate NAS drive for easy restore... documents, photos, music.

With this setup, which is mostly automated, only a complete loss of my home will cause me to lose my data. I tried online backups but they slowed my computer down too much.

I hope this was helpful.

- Matt

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

From my research, it seems NAS is preferred over DROBO, albeit more complex. It seems to be working for you though and that’s good. I, too, will be dismounting my drives when not in use going forward. My computer guy compared it to letting your car run when you aren’t driving it.

Thanks for your input!

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

BackBlaze is pointless for two reasons:

1) my data from the drive wasn’t saved
2) I have all my data stored on external drives. If they are unmounted, BB can’t find them.

Plus, if I set up a NAS system, I’ll have my own personal cloud. I would keep BB if it had kept my data safe, but it didn’t!

Thanks for your input.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

For tier 1, is this a manual backup? Tier 2 sounds like RAID by the fact that it’s connected to your router and not your computer, which is what I plan to do. However, Robocopy is not available for MAC. The copy command (cp) in terminal is supposed to do the same thing.

Are your documents, photos, and LR catalog on only one NAS drive? Do you also plan to have an off-site storage of your data?

PACSMAN Loc: MA

I have been using a Synology 4 bay NAS for several years using the Synology SHR. It's on my network and available to any computer at any time. I have it backing up to a USB drive once a week which I rotate. It's fast and responsive. I have had a drive failure. I replaced the failed drive and it was rebuilt within 24 hours with no data loss. If I was doing it again I would opt for a 5 bay with a hot spare so a drive failure would be seamless.

I highly recommend Synology.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Thank you. I am looking at a 6 bay Synology system to put RAID 5 on 3 drives, a blank to use in case of drive failure, and possibly use the remaining 2 for RAID 1.

Are you using RAID 5?

PACSMAN Loc: MA

I’m using the Synology hybrid raid.

VTMatwood Loc: Displaced Vermonta in Central New Hampsha

Hi Christina, My Tier1 backups are automated (I use Macrium Reflect for backing up) every Sunday at 1AM. As for Tier2, it is just storage available over the network. It is not set up in a mirrored or striped fashion as would a RAID configuration. I have drives that are dedicated to certain data (i.e. a NAS drive to house system backups, one for everyday file saving, etc). Everything is backed up on my NAS drives. I do keep all of them somewhere else as well, so I have no less than 2 copies of everything (i.e. system backups are on local USB drives for each PC and on the NAS drive as well). The only off-site storage is Dropbox, which I use to allow my docs to be available from anywhere as I used to travel extensively for work (as well as sharing some data like pictures with family)... but all of them are also on the NAS. I hope this answers your questions.

- Matt

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The point of backing up your files is to have copies in case a drive fails. You can use external drives, NAS, or online backup. I have several external drives and a NAS. The NAS is always there and ready to go. The external drives have to be turned on and accessed. Theoretically, a NAS lets me use any computer on my network to access those files. I seldom do that, though.

AndyBob Loc: St. Louis

This has been a good discussion of on-site hardware backup options. Personally, if my house burns down, I don't want to lose anything so I prefer cloud storage. I have used Carbonite (good for one computer), then changed to iDrive (good for many computers). Each backs up files in real-time - as soon as you save it and stop working for a few minutes it backs up the file. You can access your files from anywhere there is an internet connection. You can still have a local backup for quicker access, but have the security of never losing anything. Just my 2 cents...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

1) my drives stay mounted all the time and my computer stays powered up 24x7. Why? Because many HW failures occur on power up-shut down-power up cycles. If hard drive wear from spinning is a concern (it shouldn’t be, the platter spindles “ride” on air bearings), there is SW to spin down drives when not In use, but with SSD prices dropping every year, 2TB SSDs are not that much more expensive than an enterprise drive of the same size and have MANY advantages. Whatever you choose to do, you still need that off-site (cloud) DR copy of your data to protect against exactly the failure you just experienced. The fact that you couldn’t find all your data on Backblaze means it wasn’t uploaded or organized properly or you need to choose cloud storage from a MAJOR provider such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google or Apple. With cloud storage, like everything else, you get what you pay for.

2) What do you see as the advantage of a NAS? The only real advantage of NAS vs direct USB connected is that with appropriate security precautions, you can access your home data from a remote location. BUT it’s slower and since the NAS box has the file system, which is usually proprietary, it won’t be as robust/as well tested/as well supported as NTFS. Remember, it’s the file system that handles your data, so a robust file system is super important and consumer class NAS file system designers just don’t have the resources as a Microsoft. You can share data from the NAS with other devices on your home network, but you can do that by simply mapping drives.

3) A RAID 5 system does provide protection from a single drive failure. It doesn’t mirror per se, but parity information, which can be used to reconstruct missing data on the fly, is rotated across all the drives. It requires 3 drives minimum and you should have a spare that the system can mount and rebuild in the event of a failure. During that rebuild period (which can take days with big drives), the speed drops in half and a second drive failure will cost you all your data. On some systems you can add an additional drive (a so called RAID 6) to protect against a double drive failure.

A RAID 10 (1+0) is faster than a RAID 5 but “wastes” more space for protection - you get 50% of the total storage as usable, while a 3 drive RAID 5 gives you approximately 66%, or the same usable space as a 4 drive RAID 1+0. Depending on where the two drives are that fail in a RAID 1+0, it MAY tolerate a double drive failure without data loss. Personally, I would choose RAID 1+0 over RAID 5 - it’s long been the choice of classical data base administrators for a reason.

Note that none of these choices obviates the need for a backup (a RAID is NOT a substitute) AND an off-site disaster recovery copy with versioning.

Hope that helps. I commend you for taking steps to prevent another loss of data and understanding the choices open to you.

Bayou