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Well, you get 2 TB from a PG Music drive with the audiophile version.

There are examples that can disprove a lot of beliefs. My first foray into cloud storage (almost last century) worked well until it didn’t. When I couldn’t access my files, they claimed that all files from accounts created on a certain week were on one server, and that one failed. No, the backup service didn’t have a backup.


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Yes, the 2 TB is definitely a very workable solution for me also.

I agree about cloud storage. It can be used - but is only one method, and requires a reliance on external factors totally out of your control. If you do use cloud for backups, it should be one of the methods you use, not the only method.


BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
My first foray into cloud storage (almost last century) worked well until it didn’t. When I couldn’t access my files, they claimed that all files from accounts created on a certain week were on one server, and that one failed. No, the backup service didn’t have a backup.


Yikes!

Originally Posted By: VideoTrack
I agree about cloud storage. It can be used - but is only one method, and requires a reliance on external factors totally out of your control. If you do use cloud for backups, it should be one of the methods you use, not the only method.


Absolutely. Never rely on a storage solution you can't touch. Although I suppose an argument could be made if you were to back up simultaneously to Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, Amazon Drive, and/or OneDrive, but then you'd still be reliant on a functional internet connection to access them.

Any old BIAB hard drive has more storage than any of the free cloud storage services offer, and is often enough for something important. My photo collection is around 15,000 photos from over the years, and even with many of the files being fairly large RAW images, this would all fit on a spare UltraPAK hard drive, with plenty of space to spare. Scribble on a piece of painters tape and store it in my dad's garage, and it'd be a great off-site backup. A few of those would cover any important file I've ever created.

Last edited by Simon - PG Music; 05/25/21 11:13 AM.

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I agree with Simon. Unless you wish to undertake full image backups, the normal BiaB hard drive has adequate capacity to store photos, documents and much more.

And, lightning can strike the cloud too, as has been noted cry


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Want SECURE data? Keep it OFF the Cloud. Keep it OFF your computer (use external drives for all your data, they're slower than internal, but buying a new computer is far simpler. And if redundancy is significant, have multiple disks to swap out so every day you back up to a different disk - three should do, then add one more as a monthly safety. There is NO SUCH THING as enough backup when it's this cheap.Keep one off-site, one in your bug-out-bag if you have one. (In California it's a good idea.) And the Cloud? Look at how many criminal cases are based on evidence recovered in the the Cloud. ANY system can be hacked, it just takes time - or luck/an insider.


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I have another memory-hungry hobby - OTR (Old Time Radio ) and they gobble up a lot of disk storage space. I use the extra BIAB drives to store my thousands of shows which works beautifully.

The source archive ( www.archive.org ) is still available if I should need to re-download if I should lose anything but I have been lucky so far.

Matt mentions an important point; having too many drives connected will slow your computer to a crawl. How would I know that? lol

I had recently lost a 1TB SSD drive and all of the data on it ( including BIAB ). Moral: Make frequent backups or drive images regularly.

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Originally Posted By: Don Gaynor
Matt mentions an important point; having too many drives connected will slow your computer to a crawl. How would I know that? lol
I would be interested in hearing that story. I am not aware that having many drives plugged in would have any affect on the computer's performance.

When I said not to keep too many drives connected, it had nothing to do with performance. I was talking about data security. I meant that you should not have all your drives connected because the same lightning strike or virus can take them all out. In other words, make your backup, then remove the drive from the computer, and store it physically somewhere else.


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We are always coming up with more "modern" ways of doing things. That does not always make the new thing better. Well... it is better for the new thing company to make money from.

Single systems of backup are not safe if the information is truly important. Two or three copies on hard drives stored in different locations are an effective backup storage methods. The same could be said for cloud storage plus your own hard drive storage.

I have only had one backup hard drive failure. I thought it was important at the time but life goes on and the information on that drive was not nearly as important as it appeared in that moment.

One day you wake up and smell the coffee and understand that the stuff that is in that off site storage that you have not looked at in five years is only benefiting the guy you pay every month to store it.

I have a couple of audiofile hard drives from P G Music that I have not plugged in for several years. I should give them to someone less fortunate than myself.

I am slowly getting rid of the stuff I no longer use. My wife...not so much...lol

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I should have said; searches look at EVERY DRIVE connected which can slow the search dramatically.

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Originally Posted By: Don Gaynor
I should have said; searches look at EVERY DRIVE connected which can slow the search dramatically.
Oh, OK. That makes sense. Search routines index all your drives so it doesn't take all that much longer even if you add one, but yes, you are correct.


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Originally Posted By: mrgeeze

First and foremost ditch any spinning drives. They are dinosaurs. Give them to relatives you hate and sell them on your existing backup stratedgerie.


Lately, I've read from various tech forums that SSD drives (also?) have a limited lifespan. Also warnings that not all SSD's are reliable, primarily lower cost options.

Not sure how valid such articles/comments are, but something to keep in mind as you research moving to SSD's.


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Originally Posted By: cfcboc
Lately, I've read from various tech forums that SSD drives (also?) have a limited lifespan. Also warnings that not all SSD's are reliable, primarily lower cost options.

Not sure how valid such articles/comments are, but something to keep in mind as you research moving to SSD's.


This is correct - I've personally killed an SSD myself, although it was a very old one, probably among the first generation or two of SSD's. I've also killed the flash memory inside USB flash drives, which can have different effects - one drive went into a read-only mode, while another shows up as a device but none of the contents can be accessed.

This makes me worry about computers with onboard SSD's, as if that fails you then have to replace the entire computer/motherboard/something expensive...


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Originally Posted By: cfcboc
Originally Posted By: mrgeeze

First and foremost ditch any spinning drives. They are dinosaurs. Give them to relatives you hate and sell them on your existing backup stratedgerie.


Lately, I've read from various tech forums that SSD drives (also?) have a limited lifespan. Also warnings that not all SSD's are reliable, primarily lower cost options.

Not sure how valid such articles/comments are, but something to keep in mind as you research moving to SSD's.

SSD's do have lifetime limits, but for most of us that limit is hard to reach, in most cases. Cheaper drives may have more problems but that is not a hard and fast rule either.

The key is research anything before you sink your money into it. I have not had an SSD failure over a couple of years use, so far, but everything fails eventually. I like SSD's for sound library storage, makes loading the instruments much faster. I use one for my system drive, windows 10 boots up in about 8 seconds on my system. I have 7200 RPM HDD's for storage etc.

Just my 2 cents as usual, your usage may vary.


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The key to SSDs and HDs is backups, backups, and backups. At least two, one at home and one not in your home, say in a safe deposit box or a relative's house.


OK, a random thought;
Why does toilet paper need a commercial? Who's not buying it?

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Listen to what Mario just said.

You can replace computers, you generally can't replace data.

There are two kinds of computer users:

1) Those who have had a drive crash

2) Those who haven't had a drive crash -- YET

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Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
Listen to what Mario just said.

You can replace computers, you generally can't replace data.

There are two kinds of computer users:

1) Those who have had a drive crash

2) Those who haven't had a drive crash -- YET

Insights and incites by Notes

That pretty much hits the nail on the head. Backups are the most important part of managing data.


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as a software developer myself, I agree that you should keep several technologies to backup your data
the cloud can and did fail for me; for maybe three years I could not access around 1500 tunes I had bought on iTunes; no explanation, no help
when they became available again I immediatly bought an Ipod touch and downloaded everything to it
SSD drives can and did fail for me and a couple of other persons; the main drive on these laptops just died, even expensive ones
2 TB HDDs are far from useless and still cost around 100 euros each
I have 5 of them since I first bought BIAB audiophile in 2016
If for some reason my 2021 BIAB fails I still can work with a previous version until the disk is replaced with a new one
If you write anything of value like lyrics you should also have several copies on paper


Bernard Rasson

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