Automatic Backup solutions for my Windows Plex server?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Hi guys I need suggestions on backup solutions for my Windows based plex server (running Windows Server 2016).

The reason I use Server 2016 is because I want to keep my library on ReFS which is supposed to be more resilient. My priority is reliability for long term data storage.

Up to now I’ve been using RAID 0 (mirroring) all my hard drives, but that gets problematic once you run out of SATA ports, and also mirroring is expensive. As downtime isn’t actually a major concern, I’d rather free up the SATA ports to add more hard disks instead.

What I’m looking for is something that I can set watch folders that will monitor when I add or change files to my various drives, and then when I plug a hotswap HDD in will automatically backup the new files or modified files.

As I have multiple HDDs of various sizes, this solution should be able to create an index that would allow me to lookup which HDD the backup copy is stored in, since I plan to keep the various backup HDDs separate from the server when the backup job isnt running.

Anyone have any suggestions? A free solution is ideal but i’m not averse to paying a little if the solution fits. The key point is that I plan to have 5 of the 6 SATA ports on my motherboard used to hold my media files and 1 port kept for hot swap. the various HDDs used for backup will be plugged in and out as needed. so the backup solution must be able to recognise when a specific backup HDD has been plugged in and update the backups accordingly.

if it matters, I plan to have to copies in my server on ReFS and the backup drives in NTFS.

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A user posted this recently: PSA: Script to back up and restore Plex app data on a Windows system

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Thanks but im actually looking for backup solutions for my media files not the plex app data

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Almost any backup solution will do then, because there is almost nothing special about media files vs. other files (apart from the size, perhaps).

Just copy them to someplace else.

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I think you missed the bit about my wanting to backuo to a hotspare thats not always plugged in and hence it should index files by hard drive and backup when the hotspare has been plugged in

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https://www.google.com/search?q=start+backup+upon+plugging+in+hard+drive&oq=start+backup+upon+plugging+in+hard+drive

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what about indexing files so if i move a file from say Drive D to Drive E, the backup solution will not duplicate the backed up file (or alternatively will delete the backed up file for Drive D and will create a new backup for Drive E)

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Use ROBOCOPY with the /MIR switch.

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Thanks for all the replies. I decided to go with FreeFileSync and a script that would run it when the HDD was plugged in. Not ideal as when I move files between drives it deletes and creates new copies, but oh well, it works well enough for my needs.

Also considering adding on Snapraid for an extra layer of protection.

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