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For family pics, docs, etc - RAID setup? Overkill, I think. Great suggestion if he has $$$$$$$$$ and likes to setup/config things.
but I'm sure he just wants a safe spot for last year's taxes and pics of the family dog. I could be wrong. 
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Slacker007 wrote: For family pics, docs, etc - RAID setup? Overkill, I think. Great suggestion if he has $$$$$$$$$ and likes to setup/config things.
Oh you're totally correct. I just couldn't help myself... geeking out... it had to happen. 
Jeremy Falcon
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I have had two Seagate NAS drives fail and become unreadable over the course of 2 years. Fortunately my primary storage on my PC was intact and I wasn't relying on the NAS for primary storage. If your time is worth anything at all in $$$ then reliable cloud backup is cheap.
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Oh, and just as a point of reference to the cost of Cloud storage... 5TB of blob storage on Azure is about $100 USD a month if you're active with it. Not sure about AWS or Rackspace, but I would imagine it'll be in a similar ballpark.
<edit>
Ok, forget Azure. I just found out Google drive will offer twice that amount for the same price as Azure. Yay Google.
</edit>
There are services like Dropbox, but they cap out at 1TB I think.
Jeremy Falcon
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Kevin Marois wrote: We used it for backup.
If you used it for backup, you should have the original files on whatever drive you were backing up.
So, it doesn't sound like you were using it for backup, but rather external storage. 
Kevin Marois wrote: What are my options for backup?
Private GitHub repo. 
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned Resilio Sync yet. This was formerly called BitTorrent Sync.
It's basically Dropbox without the cloud server. Keeps your local devices synced between themselves, but does not keep a cloud copy.
So, I use two different PC's which are always on (but it can be used with PC's that you turn on only occasionally, as long as that delay in copying your data is ok with you).
I keep the two PC's on different locations, but you can do it at home if you prefer. Both have a 1TB disk dedicated to this task, and Resilio keeps them synced.
So that's 1TB of replicated storage for less than $100, one-time payment.
Be careful that replication is not exactly the same as backup. You are protected against hard-drive failure, but not against you deleting your files accidentally (it replicates the screw up...). I keep two copies of my directories, one of them static and updated about monthly, just in case I screw up the other.
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To recover files from failed customer disks I have used a data recovery company https://www.mjm.co.uk/[^]. You would obviously need to find someone near you
I also advocate multiple external hard disks in rotation with at least one always being kept offsite in case the office burns down
If you have another friendly location then you could always set up a remote ftp server and I use winscp to keep backups in step whilst minimising the internet traffic
These days local backup disks that are always online are at risk from ransomware attacks so you need to have offline storage for backups
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#1 and most important always always always have 2 backups. in 2 locations.
#2 and just as important. Verify your backups on a regular basis.
Other wise pick anything someone else has offered
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
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1) Loads of suggestions from others, but first of all try the drive in a different enclosure (or mount it in a PC) - it may just be the USB electronics that are failing.
2) Get a NAS which will connect to the Cloud. All (reputable) NAS's have backup software that will "pull" data from other computers and carry out full/incremential backups which can then be synchronised with a Cloud service (I use Amazon CloudDrive @ 70€/yr, if you have Prime you already get unlimited photo storage and 5GB for other files).
Remember if you have a fire, flood or burglary you may lose all your data at home, so off-site storage is a must for anything you value. If you don't trust the Cloud then back up you NAS to a USB drive (which too can be automatic at the press of a button) and keep the drive with friends/family.
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I am redoing this for a client because GOOGLE DRIVE speeds suck and they are changing it.
But he backs up to an internal hard drive. Then it syncs those files to google drive (soon to be amazon s3).
One client had a morning ritual at the office of swapping the backup hard drive with the one from his car. He was too cheap to buy an offsite service.
And you do NOT have a backup if you have never restored and confirmed it!
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There are loads of recovery services out there for when the drive doesn't spin any more. Question is, are your files important enough to warrant the expenditure. Then again, if they were that important the money would have been better spent on cloud backup. Got to be honest, i have lost usb hard drives due to motor failure and usb keys have died suddenly. These days I no longer trust anything and all my serious stuff is in drop box.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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My thoughts on backups appear to be wider ranging.
1) What backup software?
I use WinZip for backing up files. I schedule jobs to backup different folders at different times and frequencies -- some daily, weekly, or monthly. I use an option that adds the timestamp to the file name so I have numerous copies, limited by disk space.
Since I have a second internal HD, I backup to that one, and periodically move the zips to external media.
2) Backup Options?
A) Cloud. Cloud backup solutions work, but I will NOT place any sensitive data, such as financial information in the cloud. Expecially recently, it's obvious that any online provider can be hacked. The only way to guarantee no hacking is to not be online. Anyone who believes their cloud storage is 100% safe is deluding themselves.
B) Multiple Tested Backups. Others have said it and it bears repeating. If the restore from a backup has not been tested, it's not a backup. An old employer did backups every night, rotating Friday and end-of-month backups. Had years worth of tapes. Never tested the restore. We had to retrieve a file, spent 8 hours working at it, couldn't get it to work. We had gone years without a backup. [Management replaced the backup solution a year later ...  ]
NEVER have a single backup. Three is a good number. Keep at least one offsite to protect against catastropic loss.
C) DVD. Burn copies to CD or DVD, or if you have large datasets, invest in a Blu-Ray burner. Why?
C1) The media is good for years. It's not completely age proof but good quality disks are good for years. Burn sets of photos and/or video as you go.
C2) Disks cannot be screwed by ransomware. Finalize the media and it can't be hurt by electronic means (to the best of my knowledge). Plus the disks are offline, so they can't be touched even if your main copy is.
C3) Put copies in a safe deposit box, send to a sibling, a lawyer, etc. Cheap to create, easy to store.
D) Flash Drives. WARNING: Flash drives are volatile so never use as a primary backup. That said, flash drives and SD cards are dirt cheap and you can get large ones at a decent price. Like DVDs they are easy to store, just make multiple copies AND have a fairly recent copy on other media.
E) Internal HD. I have an extra HD in my PC. I run WinZip jobs daily, weekly, and monthly to zip different directories and store them on the second HD, appending the timestamp so I can have multiple files. Weekly or monthly I copy them to an external HD.
This is really handy and can easily be automated, but remember that it's active so it's subject to ransomware or other problems.
F) "External" Internal HD. I have a stack of old HD of various sizes. A $15 (USD) USB cable & power supply allow me to connect them to the PC as a large flash drive. Load 'em up, label to keep track of which is which (scotch tape over a stickie works fine), and you have a lot of backups. This can be moved offsite.
Dedicated portable and external HD are quicker and easier to use, but internal HD are cheaper, and if you're like me -- you have a few hanging around. Fdisk and format an old HD and you have a lot of storage.
G) Do all of the above. No reason to limit yourself to any one method.
Hardware failure is a "when" not an "if". Plan for it. 
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My HD failed recently (noisy clicks when PC turned on, it didn't boot). I cloned it with this hardware: Startech USB 3.0/eSATA 1:1 Duplicator Dock with UASP. Part # SDOCK2U33RE.
It cloned the disc perfectly. It is somewhat slow: my 500 Gb HD was cloned in about 2 h.
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I used https://www.krollontrack.com a few years ago. It was expensive but they recovered 100% of my files and they were pretty quick about it.
As some of the others have mentioned, if you need a service like this, you aren’t doing a good enough job of maintaining backups. I now make two copies of all my data every week onto separate hard drives that are not normally connected to my computer. They are offline except when making copies of the backups. I keep one of those copies off site. I learned (and paid for) my lesson last time.
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I've had success many times with this method. I'm more of a Linux guy, but seriously you get a lot more control using Linux when trying to recover from a failing hard drive.
The first thing you need to do is get an image from the drive, whatever data you can possibly read (or if you like, clone do a different good hard drive). I recommend ddrescue for this job because you can do multiple passes and much more. Just download a live copy of any popular linux distribution and boot from a USB or CD. You can install ddrescue and follow a tutorial for this step.
Then you can move on to data recovery tools that have been mentioned, or others, on the image (or good drive). Otherwise the more you try to read from the bad drive, the more likely it is that it will get worse and worse until nothing is readable. It's counterintuitive.
Recommended tools for recovery:
- ddrescue (free) - an invaluable tool that doesn't really compare to anything else
- TestDisk (free) - this is my go to application and it's never failed me, unless there's no data to work with from the image
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (paid)
Someone mentioned Spinrite - I've had success with this, but considering the process I would try it in this order:
1. ddrescue
2. ddrescue again, using different options
3. If any sectors could not be read, use spinrite on the failing disk (knowing that you could be doing more damage to the drive)
4. ddrescue yet again
5. data recovery software
Good luck!
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My wife just asked me to make coffee, my beverage of choice.
Since she only drinks one cup a day, and has already had her cup, I asked for clarification as to why I'm making it.
The reply: it's not for you to drink, it's for me to make coffee soap with.
And here I was thinking she was giving me permission to drink more coffee...
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Every morning, I bring to my wife her coffee while she's still in bed.
She only have to grind it.
selfish adj. Defines someone who does not think of me.
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The correct response is, "how high?"
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Jeremy Falcon
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When you start having to ask permission to do stuff like drink coffee, to me it starts to seem more like a parent / child relationship more so than a husband / wife one.
Jeremy Falcon
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For reference: The Lounge[^]
Software Zen: delete this;
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Oh snap. 
Jeremy Falcon
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