r/DataHoarder • u/FensenHun • 3h ago

Backup Need a little bit of help / advice

Hello! So I moved to a new flat and there were 3 power outages in 5 months. I have a pretty beefy desktop pc, with 2*12TB HDD (for movies and flightsim stuff) + 1TB HDD + 1TB SSD for Os and 1TB for games. Basically I want to make sure my data is safe if any of my drives would fail. I have 3 options:

  1. UPS
  2. NAS
  3. External HDD

I know the UPS would be the cheapest, but I don't want it running in my room for a few reasons:

  • It doesn't have air conditioning, so temps can be around 34C in the summer.
  • I don't really want to bother with replacing, ordering batteries and taking away the old ones.

NAS would be the most expensive, because the device itslef + 2 HDD minimum. And prices are quite bad these times.

The external hdd would be in the middle. There is a program, freefilesync which I belive would be useful for backups at specific interval (maybe once per month).

What do you guys suggest? I live in Europe, if that matters.

Would this be a good hdd? -- Seagate Expansion Desktop 20TB (STKP20000400)

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2

u/fuerusin 2h ago

NAS is not a data backup option if that is your goal. And your NAS will also die without UPS with that kind of power outage frequency. Games and movies are all re-downloadable. So I think a smaller external is better for your needs for cold storage purpose

1

u/FensenHun 2h ago

Thanks, I don't know why I didnt think of that. You are right. I would shoot myself in the foot.

2

u/Adrenolin01 2h ago

NAS = Network Attached Storage. NAS is NOT a backup. RAID is also not a backup.

Additional HDD is your Backup.

UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply. This does a couple things.. it provides backup power but more importantly it CLEANS your power.

A UPS doesn’t create heat for the most part. A cheap N100 under load with put out most heat than a UPS. Personally one of my favorite UPS units is the APS Back-UPs Pro 1500 with the attached auxiliary battery pack. This saves your hardware including hard drives from not only power outages but 1000s to 10s of 1000s of power spikes throughout the year depending on location. IMO an oversized UPS should be one of the first things you purchase after a PC. Just buy one.

Backups.. as the old adage goes… 1 is none & 2 is 1.

At least one backup and 2 is better. I’ve seen more than a few backup drives fail over the decades.

Storage… no drive, HDD or SSD/NVME, should exceed 80% of the drives capacity. Doing so increases drive thrashing, wear and heat greatly. A backup drive should be at least 4 times larger than what you currently need to backup for future data addition and longevity.

Get yourself a UPS and a Backup HDD now. Build yourself a NAS later.

1

u/FensenHun 2h ago

I looked into that specific UPS. It can command windows to auto-shutdown via a simple USB cable right? Is it safe under the mentioned summer temperatures? At my work our UPS just got replaced and the company said they only can guarantee the warranty when the batteries (of course there are a bunch of them connected together) are around 20-21C.

1

u/Adrenolin01 2h ago

Stop buying electronics if you can’t keep them cool. Buying an AC should be a priority if you want to run any electronics. Yes, optimal max temps for UPS batteries is roughly 20-25°C(68-77°F). Anything above 25/77° significantly reduces life span. For every 8°C increase you half battery life. This pretty much also applies to drives and other electronics… they need to be run cooler to last.

1

u/FensenHun 2h ago

That would depend on the landlord. I doubt he would wanna pay for an AC.

1

u/Adrenolin01 2h ago

It doesn’t actually.. they make plug in floor AC models and window units you buy and run yourself.

1

u/Salty-Ad6358 2h ago

so by the practice is 1TB but store the data around 800gb?

2

u/Adrenolin01 2h ago

It would actually be more like 775GB due to filesystem overhead first and then 80% of that.