I have about 500GB of data (photos, documents, videos etc.) that I have accumulated over the years. Currently, I keep them on my computer and rsync all additions / changes once a month or so to an external hard drive. Do I need to be worried about data loss (sectors going bad, bit rot, bit flip, whatever it is called)?
To clarify,
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None of this is commercially important; I just don’t want to get into a situation where I look up an old family photo or video twenty years down the line and it has got corrupted.
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Both my computer and the external HD are HDDs. They are fairly cheap here (and very cheap if second hand). Buying SSDs or dedicated hardware would be expensive.
The 3 2 1 rule is always the gold standard.
I’d recommend at least adding an offsite backup. Set up rclone with a mounted folder (client side encryption is recommended) and sync the files to that as well.
I use Backblaze for about $6/TB/mo, pro-rated for whatever amount is actually used.
6$ is about 500 rupees. I can get another HDD for double that price.
I do copy some important files to Google Drive, but I don’t pay for it, and I don’t rely on it.
I started using restic for backups.
Pro:
- Encryption
- Deduplication
- Flexible backup location
- Data integrity checks
Con:
- No good GUI
In my experience, a well treated, non overused physical hard drive can and likely will hold up for over 15 years.
I haven’t had any problems with any of my HDDs, but I don’t stress them out with daily gaming or video production, and I don’t toss them around like footballs, obviously.
Just speaking from my own experiences though…
My external HD is working well, but the computer’s HD seems to be of poor quality. I’m worried that once the primary copy gets corrupted, the mistakes will then be copied to the external HD as well. (Although if I understand rsync correctly, this shouldn’t happen.)