Best method of long-term archiving?

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octodigitus

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Nov 13, 2017
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Hi, so I have tons of digitized home videos and photos and other data I want to archive as reliably as possible. I was thinking I'd get a couple Western Digital Black SATA drives and maybe a couple of solid-state external drives or something, and put all data on each drive for the sake of redundancy. Is this a good method, or can anyone think of a better one? Also, if hard drives are the way to go can I get a recommendation on the most reliable solid state drive? Not looking to go cheap here, but I sure as hell ain't rich either.

Thanks much!
 
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JoeMomma


I agree that the key is to have multiple backups. I use 3 basic methods.

1. I have a large internal enterprise drive that runs a backup at 4AM everyday.

2. I Hot Swap bare drives into the 5-1/4 bay. I do a manual back up and put the bare drives in my fireproof safe.
I...
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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The best method for long-term storage is an all-of-the-above strategy. Most data that I need to preserve long-term is backed up automatically every morning to a second internal hard drive, cloud storage, and if the data I have is particularly valuable and not changing, I also keep the data on optical disks and flash drives (the most important of which go in my safety deposit box). Exactly what works best for you depends on the nature and the value of the data.
 
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JoeMomma

JoeMomma

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Nov 17, 2010
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I agree that the key is to have multiple backups. I use 3 basic methods.

1. I have a large internal enterprise drive that runs a backup at 4AM everyday.

2. I Hot Swap bare drives into the 5-1/4 bay. I do a manual back up and put the bare drives in my fireproof safe.
I should do that every week but I do it once a month typically. A good hard drive dock (toaster) can do the same thing.

3. M-Disc. M-Disc is a Blu-Ray+R or DVD+R that is made of stone rather than made of aluminum. They are sort of pricey though $90 for 5x 100GB. An M-Disc has a shelf life of over 1,000 years. But who is going to be around to make a warranty claim if it only lasts for 999? ;)
 
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octodigitus

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Nov 13, 2017
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Thanks for the answers. Two questions: what hardware is needed to write to a 100GB M-disc? And can anyone recommend a reliable model of hard drive? I understand WD Blacks are reliable on the mechanical HD side, but solid state is more reliable, right?
 
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