Living on borrowed time?

[wahoowad]

I have fairly simple backup needs so use an older Seagate Freeagent 500GB external harddrive, it's old so is only USB-2. It is shared off of my AC-68U router and the freeware (@Max SyncUp) backup software on my PC does a daily incremental to it. Occasionally we might do a manual copy backup of our other laptop to it (wife not good with backups).

We probably only have 250GB of worthwhile data needing storage. No media streaming. Files are backups, not needing access except for restore.

The Freeagent drive is old - maybe 7 years? I forget, but old enough that I won't be surprised if it fails soon. I got my money out of it long ago. So considering my replacement options so I can watch for a good deal. Torn between hanging a modern USB-3 external harddrive off my router again, or get a low end NAS.

USB-3 external drive - likely $75 (only requirement is powered via USB, don't want additional power cable)

NAS - likely $300? If I go that route I'd want 2 disks, which is an upgrade in requirements but no sense getting any less.

So $75 or $300, with the awareness I get more for the $300 but not sure my minimal requirements justify the additional costs.

Thoughts?

 

[degrub]

I have fairly simple backup needs so use an older Seagate Freeagent 500GB external harddrive, it's old so is only USB-2. It is shared off of my AC-68U router and the freeware (@Max SyncUp) backup software on my PC does a daily incremental to it. Occasionally we might do a manual copy backup of our other laptop to it (wife not good with backups).

We probably only have 250GB of worthwhile data needing storage. No media streaming. Files are backups, not needing access except for restore.

The Freeagent drive is old - maybe 7 years? I forget, but old enough that I won't be surprised if it fails soon. I got my money out of it long ago. So considering my replacement options so I can watch for a good deal. Torn between hanging a modern USB-3 external harddrive off my router again, or get a low end NAS.

USB-3 external drive - likely $75 (only requirement is powered via USB, don't want additional power cable)

NAS - likely $300? If I go that route I'd want 2 disks, which is an upgrade in requirements but no sense getting any less.

So $75 or $300, with the awareness I get more for the $300 but not sure my minimal requirements justify the additional costs.

Thoughts?

Two external drives 1TB each, different manufacturers. copy from primary to secondary once a week or whatever makes sense. About 150 $ or less.

 

[wahoowad]

Two external drives 1TB each, different manufacturers. copy from primary to secondary once a week or whatever makes sense. About 150 $ or less.

I considered that. But figured for the same $$ I could buy a single drive NAS and get an upgrade in features, and hang my existing USB-2 drive off the NAS and let the NAS back itself up to that for data redundancy. Then hopefully the NAS can tell when the Freeagent dies and can't accept a backup.

 

[degrub]

I considered that. But figured for the same $$ I could buy a single drive NAS and get an upgrade in features, and hang my existing USB-2 drive off the NAS and let the NAS back itself up to that for data redundancy. Then hopefully the NAS can tell when the Freeagent dies and can't accept a backup.

If you just want a NAS, then a two disk raid 1 setup should meet what you want. for directory backup, most are about the same (NASPT directory benchmarks). a pair of 1 TB NAS (WD reds) should be enough for your needs.

 

[paulbates]

I have similar requirements and an rtac88. I got Samsung 500GB ssd and a shielded container and cable. I use idrive for cloud backup and run it nightly off a pc with a share back to the drive attached to the router.

Per Merlins comment, I found USB 3 close to the router can 'clobber' 2.4ghz wifi signals; get cables and enclosure shielded for USB 3.

The smb 2 setting can use a lot of processor time if you are accessing the disk frequently, watch it and temps when you first get it into steady state.

My wd NAS failed and I wanted to have a simpler set up, this has been perfect for me.
Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wahoowad]

smb 2?

 

[TonyH]

If you just want a NAS, then a two disk raid 1 setup should meet what you want. for directory backup, most are about the same (NASPT directory benchmarks). a pair of 1 TB NAS (WD reds) should be enough for your needs.

Raid 1 as back up?

 

[paulbates]

Under Tools/Other Settings is:
Samba: Enable SMB2 protocol (default: No)

It causes the router to use Server Message Block 2 protocol to process client file requests. It provides greater file performance to Windows clients from the router, but will use a noticeable amount of router processor when doing so.

I use my NAS to support office files, pictures and music.. light use. I've kept SMB2 on. If I had more active clients or watched videos off of it, I would probably uncheck the box for this option

Paul

 

[sfx2000]

Raid 1 as back up?

RAID is not a back up - still need to back up an array to another disk...

 

[System Error Message]

i have a seagate external drive and WD green that is almost 10 years old and they're still running well today. I got them running well for long because i bought my own usb enclosure for them and i modified their firmwares. Very likely they are going to be working for many many more years as even smart check checks out well too even on the detailed check.

Hard drives dont seem to fail from wear and tear if you get the right one. In the past being able to modify their firmwares to reduce wear and tear and improve performance helped and for some reason the quality of the drives were higher but external enclosure qualities sucked as some had transfer errors and some would cause an entire partition to disappear.

There are even hard drives from 20-30 years ago that still work today.