The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/Kaleidoscope_Weird on 2024-06-24 18:48:26.
Hi there, I'm looking for some brainstorming help around what might be my best options for long-term data storage and security. Currently, I have a few computers I'm running at my home at the moment ... Macbook Pro M1, Mac Mini M1, Mac Pro 2013 (Yes, the trashcan edition), and I also have a random HP laptop that I use for the few things I cant do with my Apple devices. My storage solution in the past has been having a 5TB HDD MyBook for all my CDs that I've archived, another couple 5 TB external HDDs for photos, and a few random 500GB or 1TB SSDs for this that and the other thing.
Let me summarize. I have TOO MANY F&$%ING drives! I've had one completely fail, a couple that have come close to failing, I've lost an important one ... I think you get my jist. My storage solution is less than efficient, less than secure, less than ...
I'm wanting to consolidate my data onto one system that I can access from all of my computers at home, and if I can access it, on occasion, remotely, that would be amazing. I'm happy to connect directly to my Mac Mini at home (I'd venture to say that's the best computer to do so) to spare the increased cost of a NAS. I've been doing some research and I'm strongly considering the Terramaster D8 Hybrid that has just been released ... which will more than fill my storage requirements, and provide me with a RAID storage solution so I (hopefully) won't lose any more data in the case of a hard drive failure. (It can handle 4x24TB HDDs as well as 4x8TB NVMe SSD drives)
I'm figuring I have approximately 15 TB of data that I would really would like to not at any point lose, that number likely increasing as time goes on.
The other consideration is that money IS an object in constructing this system. I'm happy to see that hard drives are coming down in price a bit, however I'm wondering if constructing this system with refurbished drives, at least to start, might be a not bad idea, or is it really in my best interest to go with brand new drives or am I safe purchasing "renewed" drives, such as Seagate Ironwolf Pro or WD Red drives from Amazon? Or are there better sources for high quality renewed drives?
I'm sure that's not all the quesitons I have, but the main ones that are swirling in my personal RAM at the moment. Thanks for reading this novella, and I welcome any advice any of you are able to provide.