Re: My First HDD Failure (I Think)

On 11/27/24 10:05 PM, Physfitfreak wrote:

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So there is a solution but it costs $5000 ?
 Thanks, but no thanks. :)

No, there's a lot cheaper backup capabilities.
The most basic backup system is a single external (USB) hard drive.  The size of the disk merely needs to be modestly larger than the amount of data on the PC that you want to back up.  Typically, its easiest to not get fancy and just add up the capacity ratings and then add a buffer.
For example, a fictionally "high end" i5 desktop with a 1TB SSD could be backed up with a 2TB HDD.
Next step up is to have redundancy in backups.  So for the above system, instead of having one 2TB HDD, have two 2TB HDDs and have the backup software alternate between the two.
Next step up is to have the 2nd backup drive to be offline from the PC. Think "protection from a lightning strike".
Next step up is to have 3 backups in rotation, where the offline drive is moved out of the home.  Think "protection from house fire".
For RAID options, this typically is considered for when one wants better 24/7 uptime in case a backup drive fails.
Similarly, using a NAS for backup destination is for when one wants that data to be on an Ethernet network instead of dedicated to one PC, such as accessible to multiple PCs.  And a NAS can also be accessible over WiFI, which can be more convenient for laptop users.
-hh