External storage solution w/ redundancy for Aperture library

I've run out of space on my MBP's internal drive and have been using a couple of external HD's to store my aperture library on which I duplicate nightly using SuperDuper. I've only really ever seen this as an interim solution until I had time to look into something better.

I had had my eye on a Drobo. Their simplicity is a big selling point. Just chuck in some HDs and it will manage your storage for you. No need to worry about matching capacity/speeds etc. However, I'm reading quite a lot of negativity around both performance and reliability so I've gone cold on the idea.

This lead me to reading up on QNAP and there NAS solutions. After sifting through their many many products I has settled on a 4 bay NAS enclosure (TS-419P II) but then I've since read that Aperture doesn't support storing your library on a NAS.

This latest set back has swung me back round to Drobo (firewire) and I've also been looking into RAID DAS enclosures, specifically Startech ones.

So, my question to you guys, is what solution would you advised I go for? What are others using? I want something which will protect me against drive failure where I can store my working Aperture library (not just vaults).

To further add to my confusion I've also read a little about iSCSI and that it can present NAS as DAS. Can anyone shed any light on this?

This might help -
https://discussions.ap​ple.com …/4123818?start=​0&tstart=0

My rMBPP arrives Tuesday. I will move migrate to it from my current Hack. In the Hack I have the OS and apps on the SSD and moved my home folder to an internal 2TB drive as my pictures folder alone is over 1TB. On the rMBP the home folder will be on the SSD; however, all the user folder's subfolders large subfolders (documents, pictures, music, movies) will all be on a LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt RAID 1 (mirror) set. Backup contiues to be to my 3TB Time Capsule.

You can do something similar using a single large drive (WD or Seagate) with Time Machine backup to another drive. You can do this with two Thunderbolt or USB 3 drives. You can get 3TB USB 3 drives for well less than $150 each.

When designing a data storage and backup protocol for yourself, please remember that if it isn't off site, it isn't protected from loss/destruction.

It doesn't have to be online. A set of drives you take to a friend's place you visit regularly works easily enough. At the very least, don't leave all your storage on the same desk in your office. Tuck something away out of sight so that it isn't as likely to walk off if you're ever robbed.

Luckless wrote in post #14817056
When designing a data storage and backup protocol for yourself, please remember that if it isn't off site, it isn't protected from loss/destruction.

It doesn't have to be online. A set of drives you take to a friend's place you visit regularly works easily enough. At the very least, don't leave all your storage on the same desk in your office. Tuck something away out of sight so that it isn't as likely to walk off if you're ever robbed.

This is outstanding advice that many overlook. I can't stress how important an off-site back up is. If you don't have one, a theft or natural disaster will leave you without your precious data.

I've shied away from online solutions as they require a lot of bandwidth (for what I do), the longevity of many online backup companies themselves is always in question, and after comparing the costs, it's more expensive over the long haul. (Provided your backup drive doesn't fail at an early age.)

My off-site backup plan is just like what Luckless has mentioned. I have a large drive that I store in a locked cabinet in my office at work. I have a iCal reminder that prompts me to bring it home every two months and run a clone backup while I sleep, and then I take it right back to work the next day. You can set a calendar reminder to bring it home as often as you need for your comfort level. In addition to my off-site back-up, I also have an on-site back-up: a 3TB Time Machine.

I've never had a drive failure, but when I do, I'm glad all bases are covered.

Bryan

Thanks for the offsite advice but I've got that covered and at the moment I'm specifically looking at onsite redundancy for my working Aperture library.

.mark. wrote in post #14817134
Thanks for the offsite advice but I've got that covered and at the moment I'm specifically looking at onsite redundancy for my working Aperture library.

Sorry that we got on the off-site soapbox. You're obviously squared away...I'm just surprised at how many others I talk to that are not thinking about off-site solutions.

Back to the problem your trying to solve, have you considered buying a Time Machine (edit: meant to say Time Capsule) for your onsite backup needs? Assuming the external drive that hosts your Aperture library is plugged directly into your MBP, you can easily back-up your MBP and external drive to the Time Capsule. The upside is a seamless process that continually runs in the background. The downside is that it can be a somewhat expensive solution if you don't need the router capabilities the Time Machine brings to the table.

Bryan

bps wrote in post #14817177
Sorry that we got on the off-site soapbox. You're obviously squared away...I'm just surprised at how many others I talk to that are not thinking about off-site solutions.

Back to the problem your trying to solve, have you considered buying a Time Machine for your onsite backup needs? Assuming the external drive that hosts your Aperture library is plugged directly into your MBP, you can easily back-up your MBP and external drive to the Time Capsule. The upside is a seamless process that continually runs in the background. The downside is that it can be a somewhat expensive solution if you don't need the router capabilities the Time Machine brings to the table.

Bryan

No need to apologise

I've got an external drive I'm using for time machine but I'm not sure that's relevant. My problem is that my library is too big for my MBP's internal drive so I need to get it off there and onto something external. I think I may just continue with my nightly duplication of external HDDs for now. Nothing I can find ticks the boxes of fast, reliable and scalable.

Ooops. I meant to say Time Capsule, not Time Machine in my previous post. By using a Time Capsule, you can back up your internal MBP drive and the external drive that hosts your library, as long as that external drive is directly connected to your MBP.

After the initial back up, the Time Capsule is fast and reliable. But scaleable it's not. 3 TB is the largest you can buy right now, which is plenty big for most consumers. But if you need something bigger, then yes, a much more robust system is needed.

I assume you're at this point?

Bryan

If 3TB is not enough, you can run a RAID 0 set made of muliple 1, 2, 3 TB drives. If you want to get fancy you can run RAID 1+0, or better still RAID 5 to get the best compromise of speed and redundancy.