Backup scenario - ideal options

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#:1.42.2.10156
Player Version#: web 4.156.0

Wanted to throw this topic out there for target practice.

For a backup scenario, I have roughly 16TB of media, mostly movies with some TV and music in there. Wanted to do a full backup periodically for that just in case scenario where everything takes a crap.

Thought of S3 deep glacier infrequent cloud storage but from what I calculated that would run pretty much 1:1 for dollars to TB per month. Obviously increasing as more media is added.

I know I can get a $350 24TB drive and do backups right from the physical machine, so given the monthly charge that would pay for itself in ~20 months.

There isn’t anymore storage slots available in the physical chassis, but the few HD slot to USB3 units have been a bit temperamental when used on the current plex server. the OS would randomly hang and I couldn’t see anything terribly obvious on why, other than when disconnecting the USB caddy, the plex server was rock solid.

so one idea was to do occasional/quarterly backups, then disconnect the drive. but I wanted to see what others could comment on about this, pros or cons.

Thank you

2

Here is what I do for backup:

I first ran this on a Synology 918+ and 517 Expansion cabinet but moved to a QNAP TV-S1688, so I had the old Synology hardware.

I bought some 22TB WD Red hard drives and filled up the TV-S1688 (NOT CHEAP) and kept some of the older 22TBs in the Synology. I have space between the two for three more 22TB drives when I start to run out of room on the Synology.

I have made BOTH hardware Plex servers and I have Rsynch running between them every 4 hours so once something gets added, deleted or changed, it replicates on the Synology from the QNAP. That works really well and I basically now have a clustered, redundant Plex server environment. Allowing that second Synology public access is a topic for another day but it all works.

At this point, if you just want the one, here is how I do backups:

I purchased Four 18TB external hard drives and one 8TB external hard drive. The 18TB drives, I manually copy my movies and TV shows to those and I do it until I fill the first, then fill the second, then fill the third, then go to the fourth.

The 8TB drive, I have connected and I do an Rsynch on that to copy my music videos, music, photos, and then data I have as this is also a file server for me. That happens once a day at about 2AM.

Then, I have a second set of four 18TB drives and another 8TB drive and do the same.

I keep one set home, hooked up and the other set I store another place in case a disaster happens to my home. This could be as something as simple as a family member in a shoe box in a closet.

That way, I have three active copies at home, a fourth copy off site, and then, technically, a fifth copy at a storage site that comprises of tubs and tubs of DVDs, Blue-Rays and CDs.

3

Nice setup. We’re down to a single income for a while so I don’t have the money to buy a bunch of toys to make this a slick setup.

If I could narrow down what the machine doesn’t like about this exterior enclosure I’d do a sync every week or so. but considering how hard the server would tank before I’m leery of going down that road again. might have been a fluke, who knows.

But without keeping something online 100% I wasn’t sure how tedious doing backups were if I kept disconnecting the drive.

I’m not the most savvy in linux, so some of this might be easy just not obvious to me!

4

If you can, eventually, I highly recommend just some USB hard drives but make two sets and store one offsite, especially if you have irreplaceable photos. That comes from my IT hat.

I have found that online backups just are not financially viable when you are talking the kind of storage needed for Plex.

5

I’m coming from the IT side too. If I had the money, a NAS setup with redundancy would be my go to. but like I said money isn’t exactly growing on trees at the moment. so I figured a down and dirty backup with a single ~20TB drive sounded like the simplest and cheapest approach for a few years.

If the 2 active drives, and the backup one all crapped out at the same time, well I guess that’s my sign to go Amish. Otherwise I could rebuild with the single backup and make things work even if it’s just backing up pure media and no configs.

I’ve looked over the various NAS setups and as nice as they are I can hear my bank account have a seizure. Hopefully with some more things paid off and a second income back on the table, that will give a pot of money to use towards this. but for the time being….