Big News! I now have backup hardware

Hail, O Happy Editors.

I speak to you this evening as one of the last survivors of the FCP703 holocaust.

I have just bought a 4 drive toaster and a bunch of 3 TB SATA drives. So I am hoping to create a spiffy backup system with all this shiny new gear - one which reflects my one tiny internal SSD drive and my 3 internal 3TB SATA drives, plus one additional junky old steam-powered internal drive which is about 750 gigs.

I also want to use that 4th external 3TB SATA bay as a data drive - and might even buy a second external 4 bay toaster to use for data and/or backup.

I have gone external-SATA bonkers.

This is all very exciting and, with the end-of-year sale prices, not desperately expensive. However, I need your collective advice on buying some backup software that can keep track of all this. Time Machine, which I use to backup my tiny SSD 32gig system drive, only appears capable of backing up my system onto one specified drive ... and I need some software which is capable of keeping track of my new massive super-duper bunch-o-drives.

I have a coven of ancient smelly old USB drives which are backup backups which I drop off at my neighbor's house every now and then. I keep original camera files on those ones.

Please advise me. I've been tottering around this board for about 10 years, so you are the only people I trust to set me right because I am suffering from the childish delusion that I know you all as personal friends.

Your reward will be in heaven.

Thank you.

With much affection to one and all,

Harry.

PS. Newsflash. I have just discovered that my 4 bay mega-toaster has 2 varispeedable cooling fans. Ain't life grand?

Harry -

Your USB drives are NOT for live edits, right? Just camera folders? They're fine for backups. You could even use them with Time Machine.

Restrospect is the granddaddy of backups, aimed at small business and corporate. Pricey but well-regarded.

Others will chime in about less expensive items.

- Loren

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Hi Loren, Thanks so much for the advice.

My USB drives are not for live edits - just for "deep storage". My exciting shiny new 4 bay toaster has SATA drives which I will use for backup. And I am pleased to report that I am able to use this toaster with additional SATA drives which work for live editing because, according to the Blackmagic Speed Test application, I can get a very respectable Read speed of about 120 MB/s, providing that I am not simultaneously doing a backup onto another drive in the toaster at which point it drops to half that.

Best,

Harry

>>I am suffering from the childish delusion that I know you all as personal friends.
<<

It's not a delusion, Harry. We may not know each other on the street, but here we all know you as a funny, genuine and peace loving guy. Who wouldn't want someone like that as a friend?

As for storage, I have no strong opinions. The options are all flawed in one way or another, I reckon. You've got to choose your poison.

I bought SuperDuper. $28. It does timed backups in the middle of the night like a secret agent which is rather surreptitious and exciting.

It will back up different drives to different places on any day at any time and the whole thing works fine. The email support is very good. I think it's a one man band operation.

Now I just need a few jobs so that I have something to back up.

Happy New Year to one and all.

Harry.