What backup config is best for me, NAS or external HDD?

NAS is not needed. But you could make a hobby out of it and have fun using one. IMO they are still too expensive for wat u get out of them.

You'd be better off just adding another drive or two and better management. i have twenty years experience and no need for a NAS for backups.

Acronis works best for me. Been using it for 12 or more years np. (Used Norton Ghost and Powerquest before it.)

Just keep adding Backup drives but most important understand the following:

1. Understand the difference between Full backups, versus Incremental backups, versus Differential backups, and how that is the key.

2. Next, isolate Data from the OS. Then use the mindset of a backup admin. Here's how:

3. On the 1st day of the month (2nd or third if u forget but try best for the 1st day always) make a Full backup of the OS drive and create a separate Full backup of the Data. (Save them in folders with the Year-Month-Day (call it "2017-01-01" for example January, even if you forget until the 2nd day or 3rd, etc.); have a location for OS Image Backups and another for Data Backups.) Be sure that you prepare the system by cleaning up temp files and if need be, by DE-fragmenting, only if it is not from an SSD of course.

4. Then, on the 2nd day make Incremental backups of the OS drive and the Data. They should be very small. (Incremental backups are approximately 1/90 of the size of a Full backup. But, the time they take to make are approximately one to three minuets, due to, and regardless of the type of Backup, that there's always about a 45 second space of time that the backup program takes to begin implantation. But it is still pretty fast compared to a 20 to 30 minuet for a Full backup to complete.) And Incremental backups give you a great way to see everyday that the PC seems to be working normal. (Save them in the original Full Backup folders. Be sure the Full is not overwritten and the the Incremental backup file's Names are generated correctly.) Be sure that you prepare the system by cleaning up temp files and if need be, by DE-fragmenting before incremental backups, if it is not from an SSD of course. (But try and use a DE-fragmenting utility that only defrags fragmented files- it might be called a partial DE-frag or something, or else the Incremental backups will be too large. One alternative is to only defrag fully on the 1st day and skip all defrag the rest of the month. But you will get better results doing a Full DE-frag before a Full backup on day one of the month and a partial defrag before an Incremental Backup every day.)

5. Finally, after making Incremental Backups everyday, and starting on a new Full backup the next month you can eventually delete all Incremental Backups from the previous month, thus regaining a lot of Hard Drive space. (The Full backup that remains can be customized to fit on Blue-Ray disk. And realize it is a fully functional backup even after the Incremental ones are gone. I suggest waiting several weeks before deleting Incremental because if the new Full backup ever failed to restore.)

6. After a Backup (Full or Incremental) is made always check the size. And you can have the Backup program skip Verification procedure after becoming comfortable. Verification procedure can be a waste of time and it could run in the background when you don't want it to. So skip it after you're comfortable with a program.

GL

Read this thread for some tips and procedures:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3383768/backup-situation-home.html

The RAID in the NAS box is RAID 5. 1 drive out of the 4 could die, and no data would be lost.

This particular NAS is not just to hold backups, but it will also, very soon, be the HTPC as well. Take over playing movies and music directly to the TV.
It is a very capable multimedia device.

Backing up the entire NAS to the 8TB takes 3-4 hours. But that is scheduled to happen while I'm not home, so it does not impede my use at all.

I think NAS is mostly used for replication, make sure your data is backed up onto external media on a routine basis, as an earlier posted so very thoroughly!

Every 14 days, the daily incrementals are rolled into a Full.
The incrementals go away individually after 14 days.

A daily incremental allows finer grained recovery if needed.
So I could recover from any day in the last 2 weeks.

And 2 weeks of daily incrementals is less drive space consumed than 2 x Full images.

Lastly...its all on automatic.

@kol12
Here's how i manage Full and Incremental Backups with Acronis True Image backup software:



On the 1st day of the month, i create a new folder for the new month's backups. Sometimes i forget until the 2nd or third day, but i still name the folder "[Year]-[Month]-[01]". Like in March example ^^ all those files are in a folder named, "2017-03-01".
The full path is:
"Acronis Image Backups\i7X99 Gigabyte\X99PC Boot Drive\2017\2017-03-01".

Then, i make a full backup for the 1st day of the month. And everyday of the month i make an Incremental backup. The backup program generates names for all the Incremental backups after basing the name of the Full backup on the name i give it.
i used for the Full backup the following name:
"CDE (Entire Boot Drive) 2017-03-01".
Acronis True Image added:
"_full_b1_s1_v1.tib"
And the Full backup name generated became:
"CDE (Entire Boot Drive) 2017-03-01_full_b1_s1_v1".
And all the Incremental backups include, "_inc_b1_s[#]_v1" in their names.

The size of each Incremental is so small that i hang on to all the Incremental backups for several days, weeks, or even months. But i get reminded to delete past month(s) Incremental backups whenever space is starting to fill up on my backup drive. (Example: all Incremental backups before March are deleted. Note: Incremental backups for March add up to 3.29GB. So when i get around to deleting all Incremental backups from March, April and May, there should be approximately 11GB additional free space.)

Note: the Full backup i made this morning means there's no need for the 29 incremental backups made the previous month.

And this is what mine looks like
The C drive in my main system:


No creating new folders, no remembering or forgetting to delete....it just rolls along automatically.
Each system and drive gets its own folder: <ComputerName_C>, for instance.

For a similar function I use/used FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree.
Very similar functions.

And this is the NAS box going it's own weekly backup to the USB connected 8TB


About 4 hrs.

"...FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree..." I do know FreeFileSync gives my PUP alert fits at first, I have to do a custom/advanced install to get around the added stuff.

I tend to favor usb external pancake-size platter-driven hard-drives, presently, I'm seeing many 2-3TBs and even larger. I use two for each computer.

kol12,

u asked a few days ago,

"PS: Are there any particular USB drives you'd recommend for backup drives?"

In 2015 i started using the following 5TB drives on my HTPC with total success... i have two of them and never a problem:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178501&cm_re=STDT5000100-_-22-178-501-_-Product

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0O5R2I/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IVWZH3GMC8CUZ&colid=1F6AAL1561ADQ

(Note: i formatted them and got rid of any software on them. i haven't read the reviews on NE in a while, and don't recall why they seem negative based on 3 of five eggs. But i LUV them. Ppl on Amazon seem to like them a lot more than NE.)

And i should mention that originally i confirmed that they were 7200RPM, just in case i ever wanted to use them for installing games on as an internal drive. But i chickened-out on ever thinking of removing them from the External case; because it seemed a little more difficult than worth doing, versus the effort it would take. (I don't like the idea of man-handling an HDD. And YouTube vids of it seemed too amateurish.) So as external USB drives they are great and fail-proof for large files on my HTPC and should handle Backup Image files just as well. Prices are great and Seagate used excellent drives in them in order to get their USB division moving- I read in reviews.

In 2016 i discovered something rather remarkable:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179032&cm_re=STEL6000100-_-22-179-032-_-Product

^^ a (2-port) USB 3.0 Hub built in. Amazing!!!

Last but not least, don't forget USB 3.1 drives as an option. Be sure to shop for them if u have a MOBO with USB3.1.

GL

I just now saw this! I have different brands because I bought 'em from Office Depot/Office Max, Costco, etc.
Yep, the usb externals; you know, I never measured the length and width and depth
Concerning mechanical failure, you mean when I consider replacing the source, internal, hard-drive? If yes, I don't have a timetable, if/when SMART gives an alert -- I quickly backup and replace the source HD.