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Ask Slashdot: Simple Way To Backup 24TB of Data Onto USB HDDs ?
An anonymous reader writes "Hi there ! I'm looking for a simple solution to backup a big data set consisting of files between 3MB and 20GB, for a total of 24TB, onto multiple hard drives (usb, firewire, whatever) I am aware of many backup tools which split the backup onto multiple DVDs with the infamous 'insert disc N and press continue', but I haven't come across one that can do it with external hard drives (insert next USB device...). OS not relevant, but Linux (console) or MacOS (GUI) preferred... Did I miss something or is there no such thing already done, and am I doomed to code it myself ?"
Evidently, our UNIX founding fathers had similar challenges...
Agreed. Best thing I ever did was get a computer case with a SATA sled bay, like one of these. It won't help with breaking up the files, but a plain SATA connection will be many times faster and many times cheaper than getting external USB drives (because you don't have to keep paying for external case + power supply). After you copy it over, you just store the bare drives in a nice safe place.
This assumes it's a one-time or rare thing. If you do want access or the backup process is a regular thing, then an NAS or RAID setup is probably more convenient so that you don't have to keep swapping drives in and out.