Ask the Network Guy!

As hard drives become larger and larger and the amount of digital media keeps growing on all of our computers, we find ourselves in a quandary as to how to store these items long term as to not lose them.  If you are like me, you have many types of media; from photos to music to movies to podcasts, and they all take up a lot of room, and the files sizes are growing daily.  Once was the day that hard drive space was such a premium that every file was kept as small as possible.  We all ran compression utilities to ensure that even the graphic/photo files on our computers were as small as possible.  At the same time, we were all thrilled when the first CDRW’s came out….  Sure, it took four or five tries to get a CD to write properly, but it was worth it because we could then take 600 to 700 MB off our hard drive.  Now with DVD-RW units we are removing 4.7 to 8GB’s of data, but we are still not happy, as we want those items to be accessible at any moment in time to view, listen, watch…Etc. 

This brings up two fundamental questions.  Where are we today with storage?  In addition, where are we going with storage, in reference to backing up data, and making sure we do not lose those digital photos?  Use to be the day that we would at least have a print of our photo so if we lost the negative, well we could scan the photo back into our computer.  Now with the digital age with one hard drive failure there goes all the photos of the entire family, all the music and video’s downloaded, and much, much more. 

For this article, I am going to go with the parameter of a single computer situation.  I will address multiple computers in a later article.  For a single computer we will discuss the following options (yes, I know there are others, but these are the most common)

• Backup to a Flash Drive
• Backing up to another Hard Drive
• Backing up to an external Hard Drive
• Backing up to a External RAID Set
• Backing up to an web (online) service

Flash Drive:
As described above the amount of data that needs to be backed up is growing and will continue to grow, so because most flash drives are around 8, 16 or 32 GB (yes there are larger ones; but the ones listed are more cost effective) These sizes will accommodate some people, but most often our media files will need more room that what can be accommodated.  This option is a good one for transferring files between computers at home and work.  My suggestion is to keep your flash drive around for your file transfers, but look at other options for true file backups.  I will address in another article my thoughts on Flash Drives.  A 16GB flash drive for instance will run you about $35.00 (for a reputable one)

Backing up to another Hard Drive.
The technological changes made to hard drives make this option a little more feasible even for the average computer user.  Previously there were many challenges to making this option viable for most people; cost of drive, knowledge needed to install, software to back up files.

Nowadays this option is one to consider.  Yes, you are backing data up to yet another hard drive, but the odds that 2 drives would fail at once is very rare.  Therefore, if either your main drive or your backup drive fails, you simply replace the drive and copy the data/media files back.

With the new SATA drive, if you have a little mechanical ability (familiar with hand tools), able to follow some technical instructions, and can put your fear aside for a moment, you too can install a drive.  The new SATA drives have a power cable, and a connection data cable.  The cables can only be plugged in one way, and you no longer need to move jumpers on the drive.  So you mount a drive into a storage bay and plug 2 cables in, and then start your computer.  When you go to access the drive for the first time, the OS (operating system) will even ask you if you want to format that drive.  This option is fairly inexpensive, but it does not allow for file transfers between say a work and home computer.  This option will only help to backup your current system.  Cost of say a 500GB hard drive will run you around $75.00 depending on your location.  Not too bad of a price to ensure your data is backed up.  I will write and article describing how to go about implementing this option.  I will even include pictures.  I think that your flash drive, especially due to cost is a better option for moving files from work to home and back again.

Backing up to an External Hard Drive:
There are a number of external hard drives on the market with a number of different options.  They are handy, come in many sizes, are transportable, and even have built in utilities and security.  Most of the external hard drives today are priced around $100+ all depending on size.  Most have software to automate your backups.  I have found that some of the drives are on the proprietary side, so if the external drive fails, then you have to buy a replacement drive from that manufacture or often times, send your drive into that company to be repaired.  I would caution against a system that requires you to purchase a replacement drive from the manufacture, as this can be time consuming and might jeopardize confidential and/or private information.  The benefit of the external drive is that you connect via USB or Esata, so the drive is usable on multiple computers.  For the more adventuresome, there is also the option to build your own external drive.  You can purchase an USB or Esata drive bay and install a hard drive of your choosing (there can be some minor limitation, such as size) and have the same functionality as other external hard drives.  You will also need to purchase your own backup software, or use what has been built into the OS.  However, this is a very common option, and fairly cost effective.  In addition, by having a non-proprietary drive installed you have the ability to obtain a hard drive from your local computer store and not having to go back to the manufacture.  I will discuss this option further in an upcoming article.  There are several disadvantages to this type of backup:

• There is only one drive, so if the drive fails, there goes all the data
• The item could be lost or stolen 
• Hard Drives are still fragile (you do not want to transport excessively) or the unit could be damaged, etc. 

Backing up to an External RAID Set:
Thankfully, the prices of hard drives have come down enough that using 2 drives in a mirrored RAID set is an option, even in an external unit so you can move the data from one location to another.  In a mirrored RAID set there are typically 2 hard drives, and they mirror each other so that if one drive fails, the other will still retain your data.  If a drive fails, you simply install a new hard drive and the RAID software will copy all the data onto the new drive to ensure that the mirror is exact again and you have a proper backup of your data.  There are some manufactures that sell this option, but mostly this option is built by you or your computer professional.  Like the option prior, you can choose the size of the hard drive (within reason) and with a little knowledge build the external storage unit.  This option allows for both Esata and USB, can be transported between site (although like above, you want to keep to a minimum).  This option does have the disadvantages of being lost or stolen, or a hard drive being damaged due to transporting.  At least with dual drives the chance of both drives failing at once is rare.  The cost to implement this option ranges between $150 and $200, but can go higher depending on the hardware that you choose.

Backing up to a web (online) service:
Many ISP these days are offering customers a web back up solution.  For some this might be a good option, for others check out the fine print.  Living in the Seattle area I know that Qwest is offering this feature, so I looked into what they are offering and some of the fine print, so as to share in this article and to help others not in this area by knowing what to ask their ISP provider.  For example, they are offering 25GB of data storage online with any other their services, but you will have to pay extra depending on what kind of encryption/protection that you want to have.  In addition, this service will only allow a single computer to be backed up, so you might be able to get to your home files from work, but you will not be able to backup your work files to this storage option.  This vendor offers an unlimited amount of storage for a fixed monthly price, but then states that if your storage exceeds 150GB they might fall under other restrictions and maybe forced to open another account.  They also indicate that this service is neither for business nor commercial activity.  So do not expect to store your business accounting information thinking that this is a safe place.  They also are not guaranteeing this storage, meaning that if a file is lost, well that is part of the risk of using their service.  The benefit is that the provide software to backup your data and make it easy, and so long as you do not need encryption then you get 25GB free.  The downside is that your data is on the Internet and the website might be compromised and there is a potential that someone might hack the site and have access to all your files.  There is also the potential that something happens to their server, and you lose all data, thus negating the reason that you were backing up in the first place.  If your ISP offers this service, find out about encryption, allocation of storage space and how many computers can access the files and how many can store. 

Conclusion:
I think that backing up to another internal drive, external drive or an external raid drive set are the best options for backing up data on a single computer.  With the price of drives today, you can easily have a 1TB Raid Storage Set for all your important files, and even a snapshot of your OS and programs.  For moving files from office to home and back again, leave the external drives at home and invest in an USB Flash Drive and use that device for transporting files as it is smaller, easier to use, lowers the risk of losing data (no moving parts) and are more universal (no special software needed).