roopurt18 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 My wife has brought up concerns over losing the files on her computer so I proposed a proper backup solution consisting of: 1) Linux-based file server 2) A schedule of full and incremental backups via something like Bacula 3) Offloading the backups to off-site storage I'd like to implement RAID5 in the file server so my main concern is number and size of drives in addition to ease of replacing a failed drive. Are there any manufacturers that make such storage racks where I can install my own OS? In the future I might turn it into a single sign-on authentication server for the PCs in my house and run other services and scripts out of it. Or am I better off just buying a tower and loading it up with hard drives? I'm also curious if anyone can recommend data hosting plans that are geared for storage instead of the usual web hosting needs. If there's anyone else that's been down the path of small scale backup solutions I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Amazon's S3 is great for backups, I think google has a similar service but its invite only (not sure if it has come out of that or not) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 I have a Linux based file server with a RAID 5 array - Amongst other things, all my desktops back-up to it daily via rsync / cron. You need a minimum of 3 disks for RAID 5, and they should all be the same capacity (otherwise all of the others will only hold as much as the smallest disk). Replacing a failed disk is as simple as dropping it from the array, power down, swap disks, power up, add the new disk to the array and it should automatically start rebuilding it. If you have hot-swapping, you can skip the power cycling, or you can configure a spare disk in the array to automatically add and rebuild itself if an active disk fails. No idea with regards to appliance like units, I haven't seen any where you can install your own OS on. Those things generally use proprietary RAID set-ups (so if it fails, you won't be able to recover your data from a PC), they're comparatively expensive and they're mostly limited to a maximum of 4 disks unless you get into stupid amounts of money. If all you're going to be using it for is serving files, you'd probably get away with a low powered Intel Atom based set-up and a bunch of disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibberous Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Sounds like overkill to be honest. I'd just get an external hard drive and use it. Granted, a fire or something could wipe out the computer and the hard drive, but imo it's a remote enough of a risk not to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks for the replies thus far. SA has repeated most of what I believe to be true so I'll probably end up building a cheap PC with a bunch of disks. As far as the external hard drive, we have that. But my wife has photos she can not lose short of California falling into the ocean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Just get one bigass HDD, and put everything on it. What harm could it do? Sheesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Just get one bigass HDD, and put everything on it. What harm could it do? Sheesh. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Just get one bigass HDD, and put everything on it. What harm could it do? Sheesh. Forget that, we'll go with the classic tape drive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Get one hard drive for each file Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Single hard drive back-up solutions are less than ideal when you have more than one computer, which I'd imagine is common amongst the type of people that visit a forum like this. Also, a single hard drive has no redundancy with regards to hardware failure. It all depends on how much your data is worth to you. Depending on how paranoid you are, you may wish to consider RAID6 which can withstand two disk failures without replacement, but you'll need a minimum of 4 disks and your storage capacity will by n-2. You may even wish to consider hard backups to DVD, which isn't a bad idea for things like photos, as they generally don't change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu2000 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Single hard drive back-up solutions are less than ideal when you have more than one computer, which I'd imagine is common amongst the type of people that visit a forum like this. Also, a single hard drive has no redundancy with regards to hardware failure. It all depends on how much your data is worth to you. Depending on how paranoid you are, you may wish to consider RAID6 which can withstand two disk failures without replacement, but you'll need a minimum of 4 disks and your storage capacity will by n-2. You may even wish to consider hard backups to DVD, which isn't a bad idea for things like photos, as they generally don't change. It would seem not everyone detected my sarcasm . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Why not use an online backup service? I have heard really good things about the likes of iDrive, etc. Really secure 2gb for free and you can restore files from anywhere. I also like the idea of the network backup drives that you can plug into your router and access your files from anywhere. http://www.idrive.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 I like the idea of the file server because: 1) It reduces the number of machines I need to backup 2) If a drive fails I can take advantage of the redundancy to get data back without resorting to my online storage. Who really wants to download and restore GB of data from a remote location? Short of the house burning down I'd prefer not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 I suggest you get a low power server with efficient hard drives to keep electricity usage down. Old servers and HDDs chew up electricity. *steviewdr has a daily rsync to a 1TB external usb drive. -steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted October 7, 2010 Author Share Posted October 7, 2010 Old servers and HDDs chew up electricity. Anything I buy will be brand spanking new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Who really wants to download and restore GB of data from a remote location? Pfftt, it's not that bad. I recently started a new backup for offsite, ~150GB, ~300k files, only will take about a week But this is for a safety precaution in case somebody decides to burn down my apartment complex. I still have my external drive doing daily backups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooney Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Use Sugarsync. It will not only back up everything online but it will also sync those same files to your server. All you do is install the client on each computer, choose what folders you want backed up/sync'd and it automatically does everything as the files get changed/added. I've been using it for over a year, there's only been one time where downtime affected me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.