I Have had 2 instances where back uphas not worked properly due to the external filling.

I also have enough to fill a 5tb and not have room for anything else or able to update the folders ont eh drive.

Is a NAS better or should i bite the bullet and by a larger passport.

Also what programs are you using for daily back up

Thanks

Get a Synology NAS. You can load it up with with decent HDD's like the Seagate Ironwolf Pro, which are purpose built.

Depending on how many bays the NAS has, you get parity, which means if / when one HDD fails, and eventually they all fail, like any electrical component, you have not lost any files. You replace the faulty HDD and the data is automatically rebuilt until one of the other HDD's fail.

Set up correctly, you can upload and download files to and from your NAS anywhere in the world.

Not cheap, but you get what you pay for in IT, and the above is reasonably bullet proof.

I have a Synology NAS (2x 5Tb + 4TB), not really that worthwhile if not streaming media library.

It can just about manage Plex server and download torrents.

For backup I use 10TB seagate desktop usb backup drives.

7kbht from Seagate Lazada store on sale days.

I have 2, both contain the same data.

They tend to overheat if left connected.

Plug in, backup, unplug.

Edited July 16Jul 16 by BritManToo

@KhunHeineken @BritManToo

Thanks for the info still thinking. I need a system that I set it up for back up and forget it

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

@KhunHeineken @BritManToo

Thanks for the info still thinking. I need a system that I set it up for back up and forget it

I was watching some You Tubes last weekend and there were several on using Next Cloud to do just that. Hosting your own server on either a Raspberry Pi or cheap/old laptop/tower or whatever you have to hand. The only real cost issue I can see is the current cost of the back up drive/drives as prices have apparently gone up exponentially this year.

The article that got me looking was this - https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-ditched-google-drive-for-self-hosted-storage-nextcloud/

However it was woefully short on detail hence the further research.

OP, just remember the "3, 2, 1" principle of buck up.

3 different devices.

2 different locations.

1 in the cloud.

If you have a lot of data, you will have to pay for a cloud storage solution, but if not much data, if you practice numbers 3 and 2 in the above, you will have some decent protection from hardware failure, fire / flood, theft etc.

I'm an IT professional, and can't be bothered with the hassle of maintaining a NAS device in my house. And hard drives are crazy-expensive at this time!

If you want simple and effective, go with something cloud-based like Code42 Crashplan.

I pay $10US per month for unlimited storage. It runs nightly and has been very reliable.

Everything is encrypted before it leaves my system, so data residency is a non-issue.

36 minutes ago, Thaibeach said:

Everything is encrypted before it leaves my system

What do you encrypt it with ?

36 minutes ago, Thaibeach said:

I'm an IT professional, and can't be bothered with the hassle of maintaining a NAS device in my house. And hard drives are crazy-expensive at this time!

If you want simple and effective, go with something cloud-based like Code42 Crashplan.

I pay $10US per month for unlimited storage. It runs nightly and has been very reliable.

Everything is encrypted before it leaves my system, so data residency is a non-issue.

Crazy expensive ?

Yes prices have nearly doubled , but compared with what we paid,

ten - twenty years ago , still more than affordable.

https://www.advice.co.th/product/hard-disk-external

Edited July 18Jul 18 by FlorC

13 minutes ago, johng said:

What do you encrypt it with ?

It's built-in to the tool.

"The application breaks your files into smaller blocks, encrypts them on your local device (endpoint), and then transmits the encrypted data over an authenticated TLS 1.2 channel to the CrashPlan cloud."

12 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Crazy expensive ?

Yes prices have nearly doubled , but compared with what we paid,

ten - twenty years ago , still more than affordable.

https://www.advice.co.th/product/hard-disk-external

Comparing to prices 20 years ago is not a valid point.

Sure, I paid $400USD for a 500GB HDD 20 years ago, and $200 for a 5GB in 1999. So what? You can't compare computer parts to oranges. The latter is the same product with the impact of inflation, and the former is a massively faster/larger/better product that consistently used to cost about the same as the previous generation. That's all changed in the last 2 years.

I'd say that prices doubling for the same 8TB drive from 2023 qualifies as crazy expensive.

Back on topic -- a consumer-grade external 2.5" drive isn't really much of a backup (it's basic storage expansion), and regardless, onsite backup is not a backup. A fire, flood, burglary or angry wife could mean that you've lost everything.

If you prefer the onsite route -- for the most basic RAID1 array, you need 2 disks and a NAS device/Pi/something. 8TB Ironwolf disks are currently $450USD per. And that RAID1 array nets you 50% capacity, so that's 8TBof storage with 2x8TB drives installed. Not even close to enough for me, but might work for OP, but that's still >$1000USD and comes with a learning curve and maintenance requirements.

For a real onsite backup, you need a proper RAID5 (3 disk minimum) or RAID6 array (4 disk minimum). Start adding $300-$400USD for the device on top of the pricy hard disks.

And you still need REAL backup, which is offsite.

I've done this at the corporate level as far back as tape libraries, right through dedicated onsite appliances (with cloud sync), and not into pure Azure/AWS blob storage.

And like I said -- your average home user is best served by a basic cloud backup subscription. Including me.

1 hour ago, Thaibeach said:

I'm an IT professional, and can't be bothered with the hassle of maintaining a NAS device in my house.

What maintaining is such a hassle for you? Occasionally you receive an email letting you know there's a new DSM to install, which is no big deal.

4 hours ago, Thaibeach said:

Everything is encrypted before it leaves my system, so data residency is a non-issue.

hope you read this bit

https://support.crashplan.com/hc/en-us/articles/9173338541709-How-CrashPlan-handles-your-encryption-keys-for-file-backup#Encryption-key-creation

A copy of your users' encryption keys is held in CrashPlan's keystore for limited use cases.

It is the same of course for all the other cloud based backup services ..they have access mandated by law

unless you encrypt the files yourself.

On 7/16/2026 at 1:22 PM, BritManToo said:

I have a Synology NAS (2x 5Tb + 4TB), not really that worthwhile if not streaming media library.

It can just about manage Plex server and download torrents.

For backup I use 10TB seagate desktop usb backup drives.

7kbht from Seagate Lazada store on sale days.

I have 2, both contain the same data.

They tend to overheat if left connected.

Plug in, backup, unplug.

You need to set them to idle down when inactive. Linux hd-idle for usb disks and hdparm for internals. I wrote dome scripts to generate the hd-idle config stuff as wd & seagate need to be treated differently and the /dev/sd? Stuff won't necessarily be the same after a reboot. Windows? Who cares.

6 hours ago, FlorC said:

Crazy expensive ?

Yes prices have nearly doubled , but compared with what we paid,

ten - twenty years ago , still more than affordable.

https://www.advice.co.th/product/hard-disk-external

7,000bht for 10TB ain't that expensive IMHO.

Generally prices were always around 1,000bht/TB

9 hours ago, FlorC said:

Crazy expensive ?

I suppose it comes down to how important one's data is to them? Eg. photos of the kids, work place documents, music playlists etc.

What price do you put on your data?

12 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

I suppose it comes down to how important one's data is to them? Eg. photos of the kids, work place documents, music playlists etc.

Dictionaries& Encyclopedias

What price do you put on your data?

But that sort of data doesn't take up much space.

And is easily backed up every 6 months.

A USB drive would be big enough.

14 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

I suppose it comes down to how important one's data is to them? Eg. photos of the kids, work place documents, music playlists etc.

What price do you put on your data?

You must have misunderstood my post.

I questionned thaibeach's post about being expensive.

My data is very important. I have many HDD's for cold storage,

prices are not important.

I paid 200 Euro for 320 and 500 GB HDD's in 2006.

Now even with the higher prices because of AI , still 80 euro for 1 TB.

I bought 2 4TB SSD's in europe at 269 euro's in 2024.

I'm not bothered if prices will come down to that level again.

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

But that sort of data doesn't take up much space.

And is easily backed up every 6 months.

A USB drive would be big enough.

That sort of data is a hell of a lot more important than movies, which can be downloaded at any time.

We all accumulate data, over decades. Some more than others.

Sure, for some, USB sticks would have enough storage, but there would have to be two USB sticks, in two different locations, just to have a basic form of back up.

It's IT / electronics. You get what you pay for. I invested in a Synology NAS with some decent HDD's. Barring fire, flood, theft etc, it's a solid back up solution, and makes up part of my 3, 2, 1.

4 hours ago, FlorC said:

My data is very important. I have many HDD's for cold storage,

Are the clone HDD's in different locations?

I hope you are not putting digital currency on that drive, then your wife throws it out and you lose millions even after you search the dump for weeks. True story, Bro. 😳

4 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

I hope you are not putting digital currency on that drive, then your wife throws it out and you lose millions even after you search the dump for weeks. True story, Bro. 😳

It does happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_buried_in_Newport_landfill

7 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

Are the clone HDD's in different locations?

In 2 different countries.

On 7/18/2026 at 8:47 AM, Thaibeach said:

I'm an IT professional, and can't be bothered with the hassle of maintaining a NAS device in my house. And hard drives are crazy-expensive at this time!

If you want simple and effective, go with something cloud-based like Code42 Crashplan.

I pay $10US per month for unlimited storage. It runs nightly and has been very reliable.

Everything is encrypted before it leaves my system, so data residency is a non-issue.

According to Google, that Crashplan will be deprecated:

Important Updates & End-of-Life Timeline

If your organization relies on the legacy Code42/CrashPlan endpoint backup service, you will need to transition to a new platform. Mimecast announced the following sunset timeline: [1]

• December 31, 2025: New sales and renewals for the backup add-on ceased.

• December 31, 2026: Backup functionality ends, and all legacy backup archives are scheduled for permanent deletion.

• Support: Technical support for existing customers continues through the end of 2026. [1, 2]

NT, National Telecom (earlier CAT Telecom) has an online backup solution called IRIS Backup, that can backup to their cloud in Thailand so its pretty fast, hosted on two destinations, and you can set it to backup to your local external HD or NAS if you want.

On 7/16/2026 at 2:03 PM, kingstonkid said:

@KhunHeineken @BritManToo

Thanks for the info still thinking. I need a system that I set it up for back up and forget it

A single disk will do that. 3.5" HDDs are most robust than 2.5s in portable drives. I'd go for 8TB or 10TB if you do a lot of torrenting. No idea about PCs but Mac backs up ever hour. That's why I unplug the damned thing and backup manually when I need to.

On 7/16/2026 at 3:31 PM, topt said:

I was watching some You Tubes last weekend and there were several on using Next Cloud to do just that. Hosting your own server on either a Raspberry Pi or cheap/old laptop/tower or whatever you have to hand. The only real cost issue I can see is the current cost of the back up drive/drives as prices have apparently gone up exponentially this year.

CloudStorage

The article that got me looking was this - https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-ditched-google-drive-for-self-hosted-storage-nextcloud/

However it was woefully short on detail hence the further research.

On 7/16/2026 at 3:31 PM, topt said:

I was watching some You Tubes last weekend and there were several on using Next Cloud to do just that. Hosting your own server on either a Raspberry Pi or cheap/old laptop/tower or whatever you have to hand. The only real cost issue I can see is the current cost of the back up drive/drives as prices have apparently gone up exponentially this year.

CloudStorage

The article that got me looking was this - https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-ditched-google-drive-for-self-hosted-storage-nextcloud/

However it was woefully short on detail hence the further research.

If you get this figured out, please let us know. Sounds promising.

On 7/18/2026 at 6:32 PM, KhunHeineken said:

I suppose it comes down to how important one's data is to them? Eg. photos of the kids, work place documents, music playlists etc.

What price do you put on your data?

Dictionaries& Encyclopedias

Yep. We lost all our early marriage, travel and baby photos in a crash. Gone. Irrecoverable.

I actually hate the idea of digital photos. They're extremely vulnerable to loss and, unless you have all the spare time in the world and make this a dedicated pursuit, they'll never be organised in a fashion where you can enjoy them. The fact is, you'll never look at them again unless you happen across one.

My Mum had a huge shelf of photo albums and, every single year when we visited, we took them down and enjoyed them together as a family. Digital photos can never recreate those warm feelings.

So, click away. Even enter photo contests. Keep 'em on your disk, keep 'em in the cloud. And forget them.

5 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Yep. We lost all our early marriage, travel and baby photos in a crash. Gone. Irrecoverable.

I actually hate the idea of digital photos. They're extremely vulnerable to loss and, unless you have all the spare time in the world and make this a dedicated pursuit, they'll never be organised in a fashion where you can enjoy them. The fact is, you'll never look at them again unless you happen across one.

My Mum had a huge shelf of photo albums and, every single year when we visited, we took them down and enjoyed them together as a family. Digital photos can never recreate those warm feelings.

So, click away. Even enter photo contests. Keep 'em on your disk, keep 'em in the cloud. And forget them.

The old film photos degrade over time, so do the negatives, digital does not.

You can get prints of your digital photos and put them in a photo album, should you want to.

Depending on how / where they are stored, digital photos can be viewed from anywhere in the world, at any time.

Printed photos are destroyed by fire, flood etc, copies of digital photos can be kept at various locations.

I understand the sentimental attachment to old photos, but in my opinion, there are more positives to digital photography than negatives (no pun intended) when compared to to old film photographs.

People are digitizing their old photos. Even old cinema movies are being digitized. This ensures they will be around forever.

1 hour ago, KhunHeineken said:

The old film photos degrade over time, so do the negatives, digital does not.

You can get prints of your digital photos and put them in a photo album, should you want to.

Depending on how / where they are stored, digital photos can be viewed from anywhere in the world, at any time.

Printed photos are destroyed by fire, flood etc, copies of digital photos can be kept at various locations.

I understand the sentimental attachment to old photos, but in my opinion, there are more positives to digital photography than negatives (no pun intended) when compared to to old film photographs.

People are digitizing their old photos. Even old cinema movies are being digitized. This ensures they will be around forever.

Well, yeah. The problem comes with organising them and sharing them in person as a family event.

"Look at your granddaughter" on a mobile phone has no feeling to it.

Mum's nehs arte long lost but the photos have not degraded since 1880! Of course, the Polaroids aso are not as resilient as glass plates.

But this conundrum has made me simply not take photos anymore. I now only recall the feelings I had from the memories.

I'm not sure if that's sad or not.