How to backup 3TB+ data at low cost?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

clueless404

Reputable
Mar 19, 2014
133
0
4,680
Hi guys!

I have a custom built machine. It runs perfeclty, and am very happy with it.

I currently have little to no backup for my 3TB WD hard drive. I'm running Windows 7 on a 256gb SSD. The computer only has those 2 drives. I would like to backup both drives onto a separate drive (I would purchase in the future, haven't bought yet) dedicated to storage/backup.

I know a RAID system is not ideal for backup, I would like to stay away from that. Preferably something affordable and easy. What I am doing now is copying-and-pasting 3TB of data every time I revise a document to an external hard drive. The external hard drive isn't reliable so I am going to ditch it when I get a new drive for backup.

Is there a way I can plug in a drive and have it update its contents, or mirror the current 3TB WD drive in a safe backup automatically? And is it possible to compress the files so I don't have to buy another 3TB? For example: 3TB of files zipped and put on a backup drive that is only 1TB.

I am going to be buying another 3TB drive soon due to lack of space. I don't want to have to have 6TB + 6TB of backup. Is it possible to compress backup data?

Thank you so much for the assistance! I appreciate it very much. It helps a ton.
 
Solution
K
Compression depends greatly upon the file types involved and likely they are not going to get much smaller.

If I were you , i'd just grab a 5tb external for ~120-160$ and setup an incremental backup. Pretty much all backup software can do that including the built in windows stuff which works fine.

I recently went traveling and filled up an 8tb drive with stuff for the holidays and well that took the better part of a day to move things. But after the initial full backup the incrementals just grab new files or file changes. So that should go tons faster with the benefit of being able to go back several revisions. When you need additional space (add your second 3tb drive) you can just limit how many incrementals it keeps.

Sort by date Sort by votes
smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
30,984
9
125,315
the cheapest cost is another drive and connect it to one of the mb sata ports and place it in a hot swap case thta fits in 5.25 cd rom bay. there disk copy and disk clone software that cheap that will make a full copy of a drive and make a compressed image. if the main hard drive failes you run the boot disk/usab stick and restore from last back up. smb backup one step over what disk copy or disk clone make one main image then only updates the image as you change files. smb software will do the backup of changed files for you in the background. smb looking at 100.00 in cost. with some smb the sell as add on in cloud backup. if you cant lose any files at any time then pay the small monthly fee for online backup. if there a fire/flood or your work pc is stolen you have most of your files saved off site.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
K

Kraszmyl

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2011
196
0
18,760
Compression depends greatly upon the file types involved and likely they are not going to get much smaller.

If I were you , i'd just grab a 5tb external for ~120-160$ and setup an incremental backup. Pretty much all backup software can do that including the built in windows stuff which works fine.

I recently went traveling and filled up an 8tb drive with stuff for the holidays and well that took the better part of a day to move things. But after the initial full backup the incrementals just grab new files or file changes. So that should go tons faster with the benefit of being able to go back several revisions. When you need additional space (add your second 3tb drive) you can just limit how many incrementals it keeps.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
C

clueless404

Reputable
Mar 19, 2014
133
0
4,680
Thank you guys! I am going to look at a 6TB drive like darkbreeze mentioned and will see if compression software is what I'm looking for- otherwise I'll do a standard backup. Thank you for suggesting the incremental backup.

You were all extremely helpful. I appreciate it!

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom