Back up of your music files?

Audioseduction

Audioseduction

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Lakeland, Florida
How do you accomplish this task of backing up of your music files? I just copy the files to 2 different storage devices for the moment. I think I may make a third copy on a third storage device.
 
-What type of files are you backing up? CD rips/downloaded FLAC/etc.?
-How many?

It's always good to have more than one backup...even better if one is in an off-site location.

C
 
The CD rips aren't as important as the purchased downloads. They can always be re-ripped, although it can be very time consuming to do so. The purchased downloads are another story. Pretty much all online music retailers do not provide online backups/re-downloading of purchases, except iTunes and Amazon.

IMHO, a good strategy is to have the music library on some form of RAID HD system - level 5 or 10, or 1 at the very least. RAID 0 is NOT recommended.

A local backup of this HD is a good idea. An even better idea, is to have two backups of the RAID, one onsite and one off. You can rotate them monthly/quarterly for added protection.

-How many GB/TB is the library?
-What are they stored on currently?

C
 
One RAID device alone is not a backup. You could experience a RAID controller, power supply, software, OS, rebuild failure or human error. If you store your files on a RAID device you should have a 2nd RAID device that will back up the first one. RAID 5 is a redundant array of independent disks that allows for one disk to fail. RAID 6 allows 2 disks to fail simultaneously.
 
Cory Cooper said:
The CD rips aren't as important as the purchased downloads. They can always be re-ripped, although it can be very time consuming to do so. The purchased downloads are another story. Pretty much all online music retailers do not provide online backups/re-downloading of purchases, except iTunes and Amazon.

IMHO, a good strategy is to have the music library on some form of RAID HD system - level 5 or 10, or 1 at the very least. RAID 0 is NOT recommended.

A local backup of this HD is a good idea. An even better idea, is to have two backups of the RAID, one onsite and one off. You can rotate them monthly/quarterly for added protection.

-How many GB/TB is the library?
-What are they stored on currently?

C
Click to expand...

700+ GB. I store them on 2 independent discs. I find that copying files to a dedicated RAID device is very slow. Currently I cam copy over the LAN at 100+ MBs from my desktop PC to the dedicated storage PC that the 2 disc are attached to.
 
Correct. RAID is a good device for initial storage as I stated, but it does require multiple backups to be safe. RAID 10 is also good because it is a RAID 0 of two RAID 1 arrays, and it can sustain two drive failures as long as they are in different spans.

For the backups of the RAID, you can use more RAIDs, but if you have multiples, it's not totally necessary.

Currently, my audio library is on a single HD in my MacBook Pro, with two additional HD copies in different locations. I just haven't had the time to purchase and implement a hardware RAID. Plus, my purchased downloads only total < 20 GB or so, which I also have copies burned on DVD data discs.

Are you looking for a more high-end solution, or just general feedback/suggestions about how others store theirs?

C
 
No back-ups for me. I have all the CD's I have loaded and I just move any downloaded files from my laptop to my Time Machine. If that goes I guess I repurchase any worthwhile albums. I would use a crash to cull any crap music.
 
I'm using a Mac Mini and back up to an Apple Time Machine. I'll also backup every now and then to an external drive. I've had to restore a couple of laptops over the last 4 years that crashed and the Time Machine did it without issue. I believe the TM will also backup a PC based system, but not 100% sure.
 
Audioseduction said:
700+ GB. I store them on 2 independent discs. I find that copying files to a dedicated RAID device is very slow. Currently I cam copy over the LAN at 100+ MBs from my desktop PC to the dedicated storage PC that the 2 disc are attached to.
Click to expand...

700+ GB... I would move to gigabit LAN to make those copies go faster!



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Whenever I rip new music it goes to the USB drive attached to my PC. Then the new files are copied to the backup HD, then they are copied to the HD for the two channel system, then they are copied to the HD for the surround sound system. Since it is only the new files being copied, it doesn't take long to mirror four HDs.
 
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