Backup Drives?

[Gerry Fraiberg]

What is your preference for backup drives? I need to start moving completed libraries off my system. Many of these are one-off clients, but I’d still like to be able to keep their files around for a bit. My current system is an early 2009 Mac Pro, so no Thunderbolt. USB 3 works as it’s backward compatible. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

[Sebastian Howard]

I currently use Seagate Barracuda 2TB or 3TB drives.

I pack as many projects as I can on to 1 drive and then clone the content to a second identical drive. This gives me “some” security in case one of the drives fail.

If the client comes back for more work, I copy the needed content back to a work drive, do the work and then re-update the back-ups. So of course I leave some space on the back-up drives for potential future project updates.

I would love to hear other people’s strategies.

Sebastian W. Howard
Batchfilms
Sculpting Life Into Moving Pictures

[Claude Lyneis]

For cheap drives and deep backup I like the USB3. I have a kanex Thunderbolt to USB3 converter which does a good job with getting USB3 into my 2011 (no USB3 port) Mac. USB2 is really slow these days.

[Brett Sherman]

I have a similar method. But it’s fill and retire. I keep two backups drives of a volume on the server (partitioned the same size as the backup drives). Once the drives are filled up, they are retired (meaning no new modifications). New drives are given a new number – so maybe I started at Drive10 – now I’m on Drive62. Once the server is full, I delete the oldest volume, then relying on the backup drives for access to the media.

Depending on the extent of the edits, I can either use the media directly off the old drive or copy media onto my new server volume. Either way I create a new library(with external media) on the new server volume. This way I don’t have to backup old drives and keep track of what has or has not been updated. And I can store the 1 set of the drives offsite. Storing media external to the library is required for this method to work.

[Mark Landman]

I keep 2 copies – one on HD and the other on an LTO tape.

Mark Landman
PM Productions
Champaign, IL

[Joe Marler]

[Gerry Fraiberg] “What is your preference for backup drives? I need to start moving completed libraries off my system. “

My first suggestion is delete any non-essential optimized/render/proxy files, else you’ll be backing up extraneous content. You can do that manually, but I prefer Final Cut Library Manager. It is the fastest, easiest, safest way to reduce volume of backup data: https://www.arcticwhiteness.com/finalcutlibrarymanager/

For general files I use Araxis Folder Size Explorer to find wasted space: https://www.araxis.com/folder-size-explorer/

For duplicate files I’m still evaluating various utilities, but MacPaw’s Gemini is pretty fast: https://macpaw.com/gemini

Re external hard drives, I have about 100 terabytes of various types. USB 3 is usually OK. Externally-powered drives are generally faster, but can be a hassle if you have many to deal with.

Most bus-powered USB 3 drives are somewhat slow 5400 rpm units, but this may not matter for long-term archival backup. Most are 1TB or smaller but Seagate has a 2TB “Backup Slim Plus”: https://www.cnet.com/products/seagate-backup-plus-slim/ Despite claims it’s very fast, my own tests showed it was only about 40 megabytes/sec. The fastest bus-powered USB 3 portable drive I’ve tested is the 1TB HGST Touro S, which does about 130 megabytes/sec: https://www.touropro.com/en/product/touro-s/

Seagate has a 4TB bus-powered USB 3 drive called “Backup Plus Fast”. Internally it is two 2TB drives in RAID0. However it requires two USB ports, probably because it draws more current than a single USB 3 port can provide: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457694,00.asp It’s also more expensive than an externally-powered 4TB external drive.

I have several Fantom externally-powered hard drives, ranging in capacity from 2TB to 4TB. They have been very reliable. I like them because the metal case is sturdy and can be stacked up pretty high in a storage cabinet. This 4TB unit is 7,200 rpm: https://www.amazon.com/Fantom-Gforce3-External-Drive-GF3B4000U/dp/B009YRMH2Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1419004776&sr=1-1&keywords=fantom+4tb+hard+drive

The WD My Book 4TB is fairly inexpensive and some sources say it’s 7,200 rpm, but I haven’t tested it yet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3RH61W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00E3RH61W&linkCode=as2&tag=itemr-20&linkId=2IDUPJIMCDEYTLRP

Usually if you format and use the HDD, reliability is pretty good. However — there’s no built-in tool in OS X to scan the surface and verify that. There are various 3rd party tools for this. Of the below I prefer ScannerZ because it’s very focused and does one thing well: scan hard drives for errors.

ScannerZ: https://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html
Drive Genius: https://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
Tech Tools Pro: https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro

[Manual Anderson]

Hello Gerry, I use CloudBacko Pro (https://www.cloudbacko.com/) for backup. It works for Windows, Mac, Linux etc and provides some pretty useful features. You can download CloudBacko pro for free for 30 days and No credit card or personal information are required. Once you can use or check this software. Thanks

[Warren L. Rager]

I’ll prefer online Cloud storage for backing up my data. Because it gives me full protection and security to my data. However, previously i was using HDD drive for backup my data. And somehow HDD crashed or corrupted due to which i have lost my data fully. So to avoid these types of issues i am using CloudBacko Pro Software. Try this software. For more information check this https://www.cloudbacko.com/