[FullRangeMan]

Iam having RAM memory probs after 10 years of service, I thought these cards last longer as it claims on the label Lifetime Warranty the brand is MarkVison, what save me was a DVD data external backup I had on hand.

So have an up to date backup 

[mix4fix]

I got hair up my butt and decided to rebuild a couple of my old desktop computers to be better backup systems. It is a work in progress. As soon as I am able to grab this other old computer (need to rescue a few videos and photos), I will cannibalize parts to build what I had in mind.

One will be four 500GB drives RAID'D and fifth drive for operating system. One will be a hodge-podge of two 160GB drives, three 80GB drives, and maybe a 80GB for the operating system.

So, yes. Backup is important. All those years Napster'ing on dialup during the of middle night was wasted when the hard drive fails or corrupts.

[Yog Sothoth]

I got hair up my butt and decided to rebuild a couple of my old desktop computers to be better backup systems. It is a work in progress. As soon as I am able to grab this other old computer (need to rescue a few videos and photos), I will cannibalize parts to build what I had in mind.

One will be four 500GB drives RAID'D and fifth drive for operating system. One will be a hodge-podge of two 160GB drives, three 80GB drives, and maybe a 80GB for the operating system.

So, yes. Backup is important. All those years Napster'ing on dialup during the of middle night was wasted when the hard drive fails or corrupts.

I have something similar; multiple 5TB drives mirrored as RAiD1 using ZFS (I scrub them for data integrity monthly) connected to a NUC, along with a second duplicate system offsite that gets synced nightly.  I feel pretty confident my data is safe.  I also do periodic snapshots in the file system in case i stupidly erase something.

The old adage still holds though:  There are two types of computer users; those who have lost their data, and those who are going to lose their data.

[mix4fix]

I did make some progress.

I have something similar; multiple 5TB drives mirrored as RAiD1 using ZFS (I scrub them for data integrity monthly) connected to a NUC, along with a second duplicate system offsite that gets synced nightly.  I feel pretty confident my data is safe.  I also do periodic snapshots in the file system in case i stupidly erase something.

The old adage still holds though:  There are two types of computer users; those who have lost their data, and those who are going to lose their data.

Show off!

[Yog Sothoth]

I did make some progress.

Show off!

Haha!  Not really though.  I buy the NUCs used on Ebay for pretty cheap, and the last drives (5TB WD external usb My Passports) I bought on Amazon were used and cost $66.  I think "used" in their mind means the package was opened and then returned.  it didn't seem like it had ever even been used!  For me one of the most desirable aspects was to use a modern filesystem that supports all the fancy snapshots, copy-on-write, journaling, RAID, etc.  ZFS is pretty good, but the write-hole still exists for RAID5 & 6, so I just use mirroring.  Hopefully I'll move to bcachefs once it is in the mainline kernel; it supports all that and erasure codes,

Hope you're making good progress!  I felt a lot less anxiety about losing my music (and other data) once I got this in place.

[mix4fix]

Haha!  Not really though.  I buy the NUCs used on Ebay for pretty cheap, and the last drives (5TB WD external usb My Passports) I bought on Amazon were used and cost $66.  I think "used" in their mind means the package was opened and then returned.  it didn't seem like it had ever even been used!  For me one of the most desirable aspects was to use a modern filesystem that supports all the fancy snapshots, copy-on-write, journaling, RAID, etc.  ZFS is pretty good, but the write-hole still exists for RAID5 & 6, so I just use mirroring.  Hopefully I'll move to bcachefs once it is in the mainline kernel; it supports all that and erasure codes,

Hope you're making good progress!  I felt a lot less anxiety about losing my music (and other data) once I got this in place.

Just using what I have. Gonna eventually pawn it off and buy new gear.

[toocool4]

I have a RAID 5 NAS drive on my network for storing all my data, I also have SAS drive RAID 5 box connected directly to one of my computers. Data is backed up between them as well, so I am covered for backup.

[Yog Sothoth]

I have a RAID 5 NAS drive on my network for storing all my data, I also have SAS drive RAID 5 box connected directly to one of my computers. Data is backed up between them as well, so I am covered for backup.

That sounds good!  It surprises me how many people have moved their music library to a storage system, but when you ask about backups you often receive a blank stare.  It makes me very nervous for them!

[mix4fix]

Are there any RAID programs (especially free-ware) you can use with Windows, Linux, etc?

[lokie]

It took me a while to understand this concept but a NAS is not a back up system. In other words, you have to back up the NAS.

I am about to buy another "NAS BU" drive so I can rotate the two BU drives in and out of the house. I'm thinking rotating quarterly so if there is corruption, it wont effect both drives. Any advice on this strategy would be appreciated from those in the know.

[Tyson]

I just keep physical backups of all drives and avoid using a NAS completely.

[TomS]

I just keep physical backups of all drives and avoid using a NAS completely.

I agree. Just make sure the backups are stored at an alternate physical location. Give the backup to a friend for safe keeping 

I am living this now, so it can happen to anyone. Here is what my Synology DS1815+ 24TB NAS looked like after a Cat 5 hurricane (Ian), and ~14' of storm surge salt water washed over it for a few hours. RAID and locally stored backup drives do you no good in a disaster situation like this. Fortunately, I keep a rolling backup offsite, so only lost a few days of incremental backups (kept onsite). Everyone should have a backup plan/strategy, dry run it periodically including a full restore, and then regularly execute the plan. I was able to restore my music library to another NUC with local drive and a migrated Roon Core, taking just a few hours. The strategy served me well in this case.



This is the rubble of my network closet with modem, router, switches, SurgeX power, UPS, Intel NUC server w/Roon Core, and the Synology NAS at the bottom left.

[Yog Sothoth]

Are there any RAID programs (especially free-ware) you can use with Windows, Linux, etc?

I can't speak to anything other than Linux (and Unix-like OSs).  In Linux there are various options, all free and open-source.

One option is the Linux MD (Multi-Device) kernel driver.  It supports various levels of RAID, has been around a long time, and is very efficient and reliable.

Another is the ZFS filesystem (openZfS in this case).  As opposed to the MD driver it is a filesystem that internally supports RAID, snapshots, etc.  It is less efficient and likes a lot of memory, but is reliable.

BTRFS, a newer (in the sense that it has been in development since 2007.  It supports similar features to ZFS but hasn't been considered quite as reliable.  It ate my data a couple of times, so I no longer use it.

Likely the newest is bcachefs, which is making good progress but is not yet in the mainline kernel.  I've been using it on a test basis and it has some very interesting features.  I'm using it in a 4 driver erasure-coded configuration (similar to RAID6) and really like it.  While it has been completely reliable for me so far, it's not yet ready for the feint of heart.  As can be done with the other filesystems I take snapshots.  I take one daily, and the oldest is removed after 7 days; then I take one weekly, the oldest being removed after 4 weeks; then one monthly for 12 months, and one yearly. 

[Yog Sothoth]

I agree. Just make sure the backups are stored at an alternate physical location. Give the backup to a friend for safe keeping 

I am living this now, so it can happen to anyone. Here is what my Synology DS1815+ 24TB NAS looked like after a Cat 5 hurricane (Ian), and ~14' of storm surge salt water washed over it for a few hours. RAID and locally stored backup drives do you no good in a disaster situation like this. Fortunately, I keep a rolling backup offsite, so only lost a few days of incremental backups (kept onsite). Everyone should have a backup plan/strategy, dry run it periodically including a full restore, and then regularly execute the plan. I was able to restore my music library to another NUC with local drive and a migrated Roon Core, taking just a few hours. The strategy served me well in this case.



This is the rubble of my network closet with modem, router, switches, SurgeX power, UPS, Intel NUC server w/Roon Core, and the Synology NAS at the bottom left.

Very wise words!

[mix4fix]

I agree. Just make sure the backups are stored at an alternate physical location. Give the backup to a friend for safe keeping 

I am living this now, so it can happen to anyone. Here is what my Synology DS1815+ 24TB NAS looked like after a Cat 5 hurricane (Ian), and ~14' of storm surge salt water washed over it for a few hours. RAID and locally stored backup drives do you no good in a disaster situation like this. Fortunately, I keep a rolling backup offsite, so only lost a few days of incremental backups (kept onsite). Everyone should have a backup plan/strategy, dry run it periodically including a full restore, and then regularly execute the plan. I was able to restore my music library to another NUC with local drive and a migrated Roon Core, taking just a few hours. The strategy served me well in this case.



This is the rubble of my network closet with modem, router, switches, SurgeX power, UPS, Intel NUC server w/Roon Core, and the Synology NAS at the bottom left.

Did that happen recently?

[TomS]

Did that happen recently?

Hurricane Ian was September 28, 2022. Like many in our area, we are displaced, still rebuilding our home.