Helpful ReplyHow big should a backup hard drive be?

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cecelius2
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2011/03/03 23:19:28 (permalink)

How big should a backup hard drive be?

How big should a backup hard drive be?

I had my first hard drive failure in many, many years.  I run three 750G hard drives: one for OS and Programs; one for samples & audio files; and one for Backup files.  It was the second one (samples/audio) that died.  Luckily I weekly run Norton 360 Backup to the third hard drive.  I will run the Norton 360 “Restore” function this weekend.  In the future I will be using Acronis True Image 2011, which I just purchased.


So here are my questions:

1.       Should the third hard drive (used for backup) be 1.5G capacity or higher (because of the combined volumes/capacities of the other two 750G content drives)?  
 
2.        Should the backup drive be Internal or External?   Why?
 
3.        Related to this, can Acronis True Image be used to create a mirror backup of each drive separately?
 
Thanks for any advice.
 
Cecelius2
post edited by cecelius2 - 2011/03/03 23:20:31




#1
fsr76
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Re:How big should a backup hard drive be? 2011/03/04 11:02:10 (permalink) ☄ Helpful
1. The backup hard drive should match the size of the hard drives you want to back up.  My recommendation would be to split the audio and sample onto separate internal 750GB hard drives.  Doing this has the effect of reducing the read/write load put on the single 750GB hard drive you have for combined audio and samples.  Next, purchase a 1.5TB to back up the two audio and sample 750GB hard drives.  Then get a third 750GB hard drive to back up the OS Program drive.

2. All backup drives should be external, either USB, firewire, or eSATA.

3. Acronis True Image can create a mirror backup if you use the Clone Drive option, but this mirror is not a real-time mirror backup.

4. You might want to check out a program such as Microsoft Sync Toy to do a file level backup of your audio and samples. In a file level backup you can set it up so that only the files that have changed on your internal drives are mirrored to the external back up drive.

Fred
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#2
IK Obi
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Re:How big should a backup hard drive be? 2011/03/04 22:31:01 (permalink)
Look at a Hard drive dock so you can switch hard drives easily and save money in the long run. Internal HD's are a usually a lot cheaper too and you can get better quality drives.
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markarthur
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Re:How big should a backup hard drive be? 2012/02/01 12:54:03 (permalink)
Its depend on your data that how much data you want to backup. But if you buy online backup plan than you can backup unlimited data and no requirement of the external drive for to backup the data.
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