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How do you manage your data/media storage?

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Sonya, Jun 9, 2014.

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  1. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    You would think that a couple with at least 50 years of computer experience between us would have a better way of managing our data, but we don't.

    Last night I was looking for something on our network and it's a disaster. We have 3 desktops, 2 servers, 2 smartphones, 1 tablet and 2 laptops. All of them are loaded with misc documents, files, photos, music, video, etc.

    Anyone have this media storage thing figured out yet? How do you do it?
     
  2. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

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    It all depends on how you use it.

    Personally, I picked up an NAS last year and keep everything there. Devices off network might get things copied to them but anything I want to preserve goes there. I can stream to devices on my network.

    Some of my friends take it a step further and use a media server software (they like plex) to stream their server content to their devices anywhere. My data plan would not allow for that, and I would not use it enough.
     
  3. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Your post made me laugh because when I was ranting at my husband about how we should be able to do this, he started talking about taking the servers and making a raid and..... zzzzzzz Maybe I should have kept listening.

    My issue is with the stuff we use across different devices, like documents i need to be with me, no matter what device I'm on, and photos & music stuff. I can't tell you how many times Dan announces he's bought new music that I already have. :) And don't get me started on the November email from my MIL asking for photos for the Christmas letter. I have like 5 places I have to go search for photos.

    It seems like with things being what they are right now, someone must have figured out how to do this so we both have access to what we need. And even better if I never have to use the word "cloud". :)
     
  4. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    Put a turbo NAS on your network, copy over all media one format at a time, using a wildcard search *.jpg/mp3/doc,
    Problem solved...you can get a few terra for under $500.
    We use it for offsite backup at work, but either way, its a cheap easy solution.
     
  5. LV_Bound

    LV_Bound VIP Whale

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    It all starts how you organize the data.
    Create one folder. Lets call it Archive off of root.
    Create all your folders here for what ever you want (*.docx, picutres, ....) but not the application software.
    When doing a backup simply drag and drop the Archive folder. This way you don't have to worry about searching and missing a file.
    This only works if you ensure all files saved are done so under the Archive directory.
    If you want you could create a new folder for each year as well.
    This works great for home usage, but maybe not for a business.
    I would think some backup software would be required to avoid saving off the same data each time especially if unchanged and extremely large.
    Windows OS has some built-in utilities that may actually fit your criteria.

    Figure out:
    how much data you have (a external hd may be suffice or a dedicated server)
    how often backups will be done
    are you able to control that all files of interest can be stored in a specific area.
     
  6. NeonAndBeach

    NeonAndBeach Tourist

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    Put it all on the cloud in Dropbox. You can upload from every device you have. Just organize as you upload, creating the folders and subfolders. (I know, because I did this). You'll be done before you know it.
     
  7. thekillers

    thekillers Low-Roller

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    After having 4 years of digital photos get wiped out from a corrupted hard drive [dam you LaCie Porche External Drive!], I've gotten very OCD about my photos and website code. I use Backblaze [http://www.backblaze.com/] plus I have 2 separate 1TB Guardian MAXimus Raid drives that I back everything up on just in case.
    I'd rather spend money backing things up than have that feeling of knowing i'll never see any of those photos again.
     
  8. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Jimmy Poon says you should have one big honking local backup of your stuff, probably using some automated software to archive stuff to it regularly, and then a second local copy of that taken periodically. Because crashes. And robbers. And spilt tea.

    Add an offsite option to that as well, and you should be covered.
     
  9. mdee

    mdee VIP Whale

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    1) PC
    2) iMac's
    3) iPads
    1) iPhone
    2) AppleTV's

    All running in Synchronous harmony. I use iTunes and iCloud. I also use Dropbox for large file sharing.
    My personal media such as my Photos and Videos are also manually backed up to multiple HD's!
     
  10. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Those of you using Dropbox or various cloud services, do you worry about security of important files? I think it would be fine for photos and music, but what about financials and important data?
     
  11. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Jimmy Poon has been looking into this this morning and he likes the look of Crashplan.

    Crashplan offers three modes of backup - locally, to an attached hard drive - to a trusted friend's computer over the internet (which gets your data offsite), and finally to their own cloud.

    The first two options are free, and unlike Backblaze, you can backup network drives or USB drives attached to the main computer to the cloud. And, unlike Backblaze, once you delete a local copy of your file, it stays available in the cloud backup forever. (Backblaze keeps it only for 30 days).

    With all the different data sources you've got, this seems like a good way to go.

    The software runs in the background automatically.

    Here's a review of these two services.

    http://thesweetsetup.com/apps/best-cloud-backup-service/

    Yes, you should be worried about security - Dropbox has none, I don't think. These two solutions encrypt the data.
     
  12. TwiceTheJava

    TwiceTheJava Low-Roller

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    I have a 2 TB drive in an external enclosure connected to my main computer. It is shared on my personal (and password-protected) network. I have a 1 TB drive onto which I backup the most important of the 2 TB drive's contents. An external enclosure costs about $30, and an internal drive 2 TB costs about, I dunno these days, $150 or less?

    My approach still requires a meticulous directory and file naming system. I have 1.7 TB worth of data. I can find any file I want without using the search feature. Anal-retentiveness for the win!
     
  13. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Maybe I just need more coffee, Twice. :) I do a pretty good job of keeping all my documents together. I do a monthly cleanup of the laptop where I make sure I have all the latest copies of everything on both the laptop and desktop. I've got a 2TB external drive that I use to do backups and store my photos and music. Dan somehow forgets that data is there. :)

    Flusher, tell Jimmy I'll check out those programs and the link. I like the idea of something running the background that will encrypt the important stuff.
     
  14. wigwam_salesman

    wigwam_salesman VIP Whale

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    I'd say this too but Dropbox gets expensive when you need a lot of storage. Google Drive is good (and generally cheaper for large data amounts) but can lose files and syncing if not configured carefully.

    Overall I'd pay for one of the two above rather than worrying about an in-home system for important data. At some point you need an offsite backup (otherwise you'll still lose everything in a fire or flood or burglary etc etc) which would be difficult to manage without cloud based services.

    For stuff like movies and TV programmes I'd get a RAID1 configured NAS (network attached storage) device and have everyone connect to that. Make sure it is RAID1 as this means that there are two HDD's inside that mirror each other. If one blows up (and they do from time to time, especially with heavy access requests) you still have the data and when a replacement drive is put in it will be mirrored again.
     
  15. TwiceTheJava

    TwiceTheJava Low-Roller

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    More coffee is the answer to many things in life. Like when I reply to a thread where I already replied and then it's like TwiceTheJava times myself. It's Java squared! It's QuadTheJava!

    Coffee.

    More coffee.

    Wheeeeeeee!
     
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