Interchange backup drives

[Patrol02]

Hi Guys,

In the absence of (good) Internet in Australia I am thinking of implementing the following backup solution for my FreeNAS server:

- Have 2 (big) backup drives
- Have one of them attached at the time
- Do incremental backups to the backup drive nightly (scheduled, automated)
- Swap the backup drives from time to time to have an "off-site" backup copy

I don't really want to have my backup drives to be connected as "external" drives (USB3 or eSATA) because it would mean an extra power plug, more wires, more space, etc.

So I'd rather prefer having a mobile HDD rack in the box to be able to swap drives easily. The rack itself isn't a problem, I can buy some from Ebay, and the motherboard (Supermicro X10SL7-F) seems to be OK with hot-swaps.

Do you think that what I have in mind sounds?

Also, what would be the best way of implementing it from the ZFS/FreeNAS point of view?
Since my "backup" pool will have only one drive in it, should I have this pool/vdev "offline" normally and only bring it "online" during the backup time? Would it allow me to swap drives without having a risk of confusing ZFS?

Or maybe what would be a better way to implement this strategy?

Regards,
Alexey.

 

[joeschmuck]

While I don't agree with this method of doing backups in this way, I can still provide a bit of advice.

1) Never Hot Swap drives unless you are connected to a mission critical server where power cannot be turned off. Hot Swapping drives can lead to issues so you are better off to power down the server and then insert/remove your hard drive(s). You have been warned.

2) You should be Importing and Detaching the volume, not offline. Offline is for drive replacement within a vdev. In your scenario you would have a single drive as a vdev and you would Auto Import Volume or Detach Volume.

 

[Patrol02]

Thank you for your helpful advice.

You mentioned that you don't agree with this method. Can you suggest something else I can do assuming that I cannot use cloud-based solutions like Crashplan or AWS Glacier due to a very bad upload speed?

 

[Mirfster]

Can't Crashplan do backups to local devices as well?

 

[Patrol02]

It does indeed, but then I need to setup another local device somewhere, have more pieces.
My idea was to have them in one box which already has lots of space for an extra drive. Then I wanted to swap the drive somehow safe in easily.

 

[Patrol02]

Also what you guys think of this kind of option:

Not exactly this one, something similar but on a chassis... There is a USB3 socket just on the motherboard so I could mount it inside.

Do you think that would be safer for "hot swapping"?

 

[Mirfster]

Generally USB attached drives are a big "No No". If you are just doing it periodically as a backup routine, then it is not that bad.
Have a look at this thread where @Arwen talks about her backup routine: "Backup to local USB HDD?"

 

[Ericloewe]

Also what you guys think of this kind of option:

Not exactly this one, something similar but on a chassis... There is a USB3 socket just on the motherboard so I could mount it inside.

Do you think that would be safer for "hot swapping"?

Bad idea. The SATA connector is rated for up to a hundred insertions at best, you definitely don't want to plug it in and out repeatedly.

 

[joeschmuck]

The drives were not designed to be inserted and removed over and over again however I think the ball is in your court.

The best solution is a cheap used second NAS unit which could hold at least two hard drives in the capacity you desire (be mindful of what a used device can use, some have 2TB limits), then just backup to that device.

While it's nice to have off-site backups, only really important data needs to be off-site. So if you are just a home user then you likely do not have a lot of data which must be off-site (photos, financial data). There are free encrypted online storage solutions and many paid solutions. If this is a business system then you need to provide off-site backup and you may need to pay for that.

 

[Patrol02]

Yes, my data is mostly photos. The "problem" is that I have 4TB of them as my wife runs a (very) small business as a photographer and this data is considered "critical" because her client may (and do) re-appear from time to time asking for more from "that shoot".
That's why I wanted one copy to be off-site.

I think a couple of USB3 external drives will be the safest way then.
It would still be nice though if I could find something that would allow me to avoid a separate box sitting next to NAS...

 

[joeschmuck]

As for storage capacity, Crashplan is "Unlimited Storage" for $60/year which is very cheap for secure off-site storage for any business. While it will take some time to upload the files initially, changes should be fairly quick and it's always backing up your data. Of course I don't know what your internet upload speed is either. Mine isn't terribly fast but my download speeds are super fast, well for what I need.

 

[Patrol02]

I'd love to have a "terribly fast" internet, but unfortunately, we are stuck here with ADSL2+ which gives 1.5Mbps (practically 1Mbps max) upload speed. :(
When my wife brings 64Gb card from her next photoshoot it would take 4-5 days to upload it to Crashplan best case. And I already have 4TB of this stuff :)
So Crashplan is cheap and good, it is just my internet isn't good for it.

 

[joeschmuck]

Sorry to hear that, could be a bit frustrating I'm sure.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Have you considered attaching backup storage to a client computer that has access to the data via a share and running an off-the-shelf backup solution there? The app I always plug at this point is Arq Backup, but there are others.