I think I have asked this in a different way before but I thought I'd check again.
I am starting to backup my computers more frequently nowadays. That includes video and music. I have one 500gb drive that I bought last fall that is nearly full and that is acting as my "main" drive for videos and other stuff. But I have them backed up on dvdrs as a precaution. I also have an older 320gb harddrive that I"m pressing into service to serve as a redundant backup to the "main" drive and the discs.
My question is since drives are so cheap relatively speaking these days should I just go ahead and buy another 500gb or so drive for peace of mind? I would use that as my, well, secondary backup.
I mentioned in another thread I did buy a 2tb drive recently but that is intended for my bluray and dvd backups only. This is for uncompressed stuff (well not further compressed). The two drives I'm talking about now are for things i've gotten from other sources as well as home movies and music from amazon and cd rips and the like.
I guess in the end I'll probably buy another 500 or 750gb drive for under a 100.00 in the near future for piece of mind.
But my main question is about the secondary drive (the 320gb one). You see it is hardly ever on. It mainly sits on a shelf and remains unplugged and unused. So is this essentially a "new" drive? I mean in the sense that its potential failure rate is not as significant if it was used regularly?
Thoughts?
Or am I being a bit over-protective of my stuff? Some stuff I have triplicated so its not like I'm relying on one backup method or unit. And also I have different brands of harddrives from different dates. I think I'm spreading my risk around enough to the point should any one unit fail I shouldn't have a hard time rebuilding my stuff.
Thanks.
I am starting to backup my computers more frequently nowadays. That includes video and music. I have one 500gb drive that I bought last fall that is nearly full and that is acting as my "main" drive for videos and other stuff. But I have them backed up on dvdrs as a precaution. I also have an older 320gb harddrive that I"m pressing into service to serve as a redundant backup to the "main" drive and the discs.
My question is since drives are so cheap relatively speaking these days should I just go ahead and buy another 500gb or so drive for peace of mind? I would use that as my, well, secondary backup.
I mentioned in another thread I did buy a 2tb drive recently but that is intended for my bluray and dvd backups only. This is for uncompressed stuff (well not further compressed). The two drives I'm talking about now are for things i've gotten from other sources as well as home movies and music from amazon and cd rips and the like.
I guess in the end I'll probably buy another 500 or 750gb drive for under a 100.00 in the near future for piece of mind.
But my main question is about the secondary drive (the 320gb one). You see it is hardly ever on. It mainly sits on a shelf and remains unplugged and unused. So is this essentially a "new" drive? I mean in the sense that its potential failure rate is not as significant if it was used regularly?
Thoughts?
Or am I being a bit over-protective of my stuff? Some stuff I have triplicated so its not like I'm relying on one backup method or unit. And also I have different brands of harddrives from different dates. I think I'm spreading my risk around enough to the point should any one unit fail I shouldn't have a hard time rebuilding my stuff.
Thanks.