I’m running a plex server on a Windows 10 PC and I’m at the point where I’d like to protect myself from potential data loss. I’m using 16TB out of 36TB total.
I currently store my data on a mixture of SSDs and HDDs using Drivepool. One feature of Drivepool is that it will email me when a drive is removed. I’m very familiar with this because one of the SSDs is temperamental. It’s fine for weeks/months, then disconnects randomly. Slide out the tray and slide it back it, and it works again. I would like to be in a position where one of my drives can fail/disconnect and can be addressed at my convenience while my server and its data remain accessible uninterrupted.
I can add more details regarding my setup if needed. There are definitely things I would do differently the second time around, but I’m not necessarily looking to start fresh right now. I do have a singular unused M.2 slot on the motherboard. I might want to add an NVME ssd in the future, then install Unraid OS or a Linux variant.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Also, thoughts on moving a drivepool from one OS to another on the same system?
Look at setting up a SnapRAID drive for data redundancy. SnapRAID needs to be as big as or bigger than your largest data drive. It works best with data that isn’t deleted or changed often. And if you do, then dual parity helps a lot in that regard.
But your best option is either using Drivepool duplication feature or just backup your data periodically to some external drive or cloud.
Kind of pointing out the obvious here but there are 20 and 22TB drives where you can back it up to.
As it was mentioned, you can implement SnapRAID for redundancy and better data availability. Since you are running your system on Windows, it might make some sense for you to use Backblaze personal as a cloud backup https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal
Also, try to have a local backup somewhere (external drive or backup NAS)
Buy the cheapest $/TB drives you can find (still from reputable places). Give them a 1 or 2 full write cycles to check, especially when 2nd hand. And copy all the data to them. It is the easiest and cheapest solution for media or large picture libraries.
At least you have an offline copy that way. If possible store it also in a seperate building.
For documents and my very best pictures, I use OneDrive.