Ask Slashdot: Simple Way To Backup 24TB of Data Onto USB HDDs ?

An anonymous reader writes "Hi there ! I'm looking for a simple solution to backup a big data set consisting of files between 3MB and 20GB, for a total of 24TB, onto multiple hard drives (usb, firewire, whatever) I am aware of many backup tools which split the backup onto multiple DVDs with the infamous 'insert disc N and press continue', but I haven't come across one that can do it with external hard drives (insert next USB device...). OS not relevant, but Linux (console) or MacOS (GUI) preferred... Did I miss something or is there no such thing already done, and am I doomed to code it myself ?"

Julian?

[WinstonWolfIT]

Out on bail mate?

You know...

[marsu_k]

Porn is a renewable resource, there's no need to store so much of it.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[jamesh]

If the OP's porn collection can be logically broken up at some level, eg:

/porn/blonde
/porn/brunette
/porn/redhead

then the backup software could create one job for each directory, and multiple USB disks could be attached at once giving increased throughput. USB3 also increases speed to the point where the 7200RPM disk itself will become the bottleneck.

So at 100MB/second per disk write speed with 4 disks going at once (assuming the source disks are capable of this supplying this volume of data and there are no other throughput limitations), you could do it in 16 hours, or 24 hours with more realistic margins.

If it turns out that the source data is not porn (unlikely) and is highly compressible, then it could be done in far less time.

Bacula can do all of this.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, he could watch the content as it is copied. At 600 Mbytes/hour (assuming standard mpeg compression), it would be a month of 24/7 nonstop action!

"- Hey boss, I need to, uhh, work from home for the next four weeks to handle the backup..."

Re:USB and disk Speed

[Pieroxy]

then the backup software could create one job for each directory,

Is that what we call a blow job?

I know

[Anonymous Coward]

The iCloud! ;-)

Read it from Torvald's lips

[zapyon]

"Only wimps use tape[*] backup: real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)"
Linus Torvalds (1996) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds [wikiquote.org]

(Isn't that prescience of "The Cloud"?)

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* replace this with your favorite backup media of today ;-)

Re:USB and disk Speed

[ilikejam]

No. No it is not.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[Anonymous Coward]

Bacula can do all of this

So he quantum leaps into you, and isn't allowed to leave until he performs the backup? Oh wait! Bacula, not Bakula.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[deniable]

Send error messages to a Blackberry and it's a RIM job.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[deniable]

Bacula went on to be Enterprise grade software.

Re:USB and disk Speed

[MMC Monster]

Maybe he's personally backing up CERN?

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