What to get - upgrading internal HDD + backup drives or go the NAS route?

Although i also own a 2011 MacBook Pro my current setup still involves one 867 MHz Tibook which i really prefer for text editing and composing graphics (larger screen, anti glare surface). My backup strategy concerning this Tibook (60 GB internal PATA HDD) are two external FireWire 400 HDDs (both 60 GB PATA) which are periodically used to clone bootable disks of the whole system. But after nearly twenty years of accumulating files the 60 gigs are getting a little crowdy and insufficient. Now i want to upgrade the system including the backup option and i have two alternatives on my mind:

1) Getting three used* 120 - 160 GB PATA drives off the bay and upgrade both Tibook and the backup drives.

2) Getting an NAS storage device with one or preferably two 1 TB disks and saving all the older stuff i don´t need to get access to that frequently as two physical copies on it. The gained space on the Ti drive will be used to store newer stuff created.

*The problem with option 1) is that factory sealed PATA disks have almost completely vanished from the offerings of hardware dealers over here so my only option would be to get three used ones in the bay and hoping they have not undergone harsh mechanical abuse during their first duty.

What would you do, any advices? What would be the more clever way to go cost-wise? The 160 GB PATA drives sell for about 40-50 €/drive, i haven´t made up my mind concerning the actual costs of NAS storage in the range of 1-2 TB.

I think I'd just get a NAS and back everything up to that. I wouldn't be too concerned with the internal/firewire HDDs unless their speed is needed.

I would definitely spend the money on something that is going to be utilized for years than spend it on PATA HDDs hoping you don't get a roughly used one.

To me buying a used HD is like getting used tires, very risky.

If you're going to go with a RAID, I highly suggest dropping the extra coin and getting WD Red drives.

The advantage to these is they don't try very hard to recover a sector. They just mark it bad and move on. This is good for a RAID, because the RAID controller relies on quick response from the individual drives.

A normal drive (such as a WD Green) will keep working on the sector, and the drive will time out. The RAID controller thinks that's a dead disk, takes it offline, and asks you to replace it.

Best case scenario is you replace a perfectly good drive. Worst case is you have a timeout on a different drive when you rebuild the RAID.

That's it. All gone.


I'd also suggest at least a three-bay NAS so you can run RAID 5. A two-bay can only run RAID 1 or 0.

For the love of all that is holy, DO NOT RUN RAID 0!

Think twice before deciding to use RAID. Each RAID setup has their specific benefits but also specific drawbacks (e.g. RAID 5 essentially requires a UPS).

And for a UPS I'd recommend a CyberPower. APC has gone to the birds.

You should also do offsite backup. CrashPlan is $60/year and offers unlimited space. Network drives included, unlike some others.

I'm looking at you Carbonite.

And for my hat-trick of suggestions, I recommend Synology for your NAS. They make good stuff.

Yeah and they can perform other non backup related services which makes it even sweeter.

Most do at this point, but Synology has really done a bang-up job with their management software. It makes you actually want to use the services.

Sorry I was lazy with the links.

UPS Backup | Power Supply | PDU's | Surge Protection | CyberPower Systems, Inc.

Online Data Backup - Offsite, Onsite, & Cloud - CrashPlan Backup Software

Synology Network Attached Storage - NEW NAS Experience

Thanks for the input so far, guys! :):thumbsup:

The problem I had with Synology is they stopped supporting the model I had and then the next time Apple updated APF the box was worthless.

That friggin sucks.