I used to do optical storage but I gave up on that quite a few years ago. Since some of my projects can be a few hundred GB at a time, it is just too much.
My current backups run like this. Main project drive in the studio that is used for all of the actual recording and editing. a 4 TB Time Machine volume on the studio that is doing hourly backups. At the end of each day that I'm working in the studio the full project is copied to a NAS, and at times also to a pocket USB drive. When projects are completed they are archived to the Drobo. When I need to hand full things off to clients I do that using a pocket hard drive or a large flash drive. Lately I've been buying 32 and 64 GB jump drives and am loving that the 128 GB ones have falling prices.
Wait, so *is* your main project drive the 4TB Time machine volume? Or the Time Machine backs up your main project drive hourly?
My main project drive is currently a 1.5 TB Seagate I think. The Time Machine drive is a 4 TB LaCie I think. The Time Machine drive backs up the whole machine including the project drives hourly.
So, I have a backup on a hard drive using time machine. But if I don't keep it plugged to the laptop at least most of the time, it doesn't back up. So I figure if anyone breaks in to steal things, they'll take the backup too. What's the best way for me to (cheaply and easily) back up to something offsite? I worry about copying individual files or folders that I'd miss something big, which is why I super like the Time machine thing.
Ok, gotcha. So looking at that and the gear I have now, if I just added the Drobo or Gud's one, I could completely replicate what you're doing.
I would make the new 3TB USB the Time Machine. The SO's 1TB would be the working drive. The current NAS, the 2TB Linkstation once cleaned up, could be the daily backup. And the new anticipated NAS could be the long term completed project backup.
I think I'll still do optical (probably bluray) for the long term storage of the archival projects. I don't really need them at all, but I also don't want to just dump them. And I don't want to waste space on them. But then I'll move all the critical ones and my kids' ones onto the new NAS.
I'll have to look at Time Machine. I anticipate lots of new Mac user questions coming up. I mean, I haven't been on an Apple since they stopped production on the Apple Lisa. I was pretty good with Turtle at the time, but I hear they've moved on since then?
I got my new NAS yesterday. It appears to be about ten times faster than the current dying (though probably fixable) NAS.
That Synology one does look sweet, but what was your old NAS?
Okay, so now I'm moving all the data in the world onto the new external. I think.
Should I partition it so that Time Machine only eats up part of it? Maybe 1TB to Time Machine, and 2TB for general storage? I'd fill 500G of that immediately, moving off the old NAS, and probably another good 200G moving off the new conversion files.
Then I'd have to clear the old NAS, and re-setup the automated backups for the Windows machines. I would then use the old NAS as the daily in-progress project backup, which, once cleared, would give me a little time to get the Drobo or Synology in.
Turns out I couldn't have done my original plan anyway, because the old NAS doesn't support RAID5, only RAID0 & RAID1, plus it's smaller than I was thinking, 1TB combined, not each drive.
I still would end up without a media server.
Of course, the big question with all of this is what will I do with my naming conventions? It's like ND running out of ships. I had hard drive volumes as LotR towers, but I think I'm out of towers! So I may have to start allowing to general places.
I had cities for networks, people for computers, towers for hds, swords for mobile devices. But there aren't that many swords, either.
That Synology one does look sweet, but what was your old NAS?
It was a Linksys NAS 200.
