Ive had better luck with ssd's than hdd's in long term, also my old cd/dvd/bd's are working fine..
For really long term I would invest on some LTO's, even for older generations, tape is really good medium for storage

 

Yeah, I don't see why you'd limit yourself to one or the other. 100% static data, sample libraries, completed projects get banished to cheap HDDs. More important data still in flux I continuously backup to smaller SSDs that used to be system drives. Stuff I'm working on I also sync to the cloud.

I've only ever had floppies, optical media and HDDs fail on me for what it's worth. My 256GB Samsung SSD survived 1.5 years without getting powered on.

 

So how many different store options do you suggest us to use?

 

I adhere to the 3-2-1 rule myself. (and sometimes more depending)

(I'm sure it's been mentioned in this thread, or explained, but just in case): which is basically:

"The 3-2-1 backup rule recommends the following strategy:

1. Maintain three copies of your data: This includes the original data and at least two copies.
2. Store the copies on two different types of media: For redundancy, use different methods such as local and online backups.
3. Keep one copy off-site: This ensures improved recovery capabilities in unexpected circumstances"

So I use ssd's while working for tracking/mixing/assets etc, but those are backed up to larger HDD's when changes occur, which are then cloned to yet another HDD on the shelf with fairly frequent periodicity based on need/use, and than I have a copy of those in a different location (another country right now actually) in a firesafe... I don't really trust cloud solutions, but I do use them as 'additional' backups etc, but not part of my personal 3-2-1 plan... (like sure, my photo's and whatnot are on amazon photo's or iCloud etc and some other ones but...)...

Obviously some of the large hdd's in another country etc may not be up to date to the moment with what I did yesterday or the last month etc, but there is only so much you can do, sure, I could set up a server there or something, but it's literally in someone I trusts home... and it's not really realistic... so whatever.. I have the stuff not connected to my system in another 'place' that it is backed up often enough that I can live with...

I'm sure it's a little overkill, but I've never regretted having backups of backups, and it's saved my ass more than once... and at least until recently, larger hdd's (16-24tb's etc), were fairly inexpensive.. Unfortunately due to many issues, they have creeped up a fair amount.

 

I am doing a poor man's system of mirroring my drives to HDD.
Most of my drives are SSD, but I have a 7200 rpm 8T HDD on which I do most of my downloading, extracting, installing and then archiving.
That is mirrored to another 8T daily (just updating changes) using Free File Sync (I donated twice for this just because i love it so much).

I have these backups set to run in Windows Task manager, and run FFS using database method, and because only changes are actually written, i have it scan and update my Windows User folder & my personal "Desk" folder where all important personal work is done twice daily & my Studio & Reaper folders the same way. While those are included in other mirroring (and user folder in backups), again, only changes are written so it is not that hard on the drives. Full OS drive backups DO write a lot, and I mirror the most recent ones as well.

I LOVE FFS as it copies symlinks properly as symlinks, it is FAST, and also allows you to do great comparison for duplicates (the original reason i found it).
I have another 10 TB on which I mirror most of my other drives and a 5T on which i do system backups using TODO home backup (sister site).

 

I've lost tons of stuff down through life- data, personal possessions, things that were in storage... I've learned not to get attached to anything ever. If my data gets destroyed I'll just consider that a message from the universe and move on.

 

when the directory structure gets damaged, the file names can get lost, the recovery program named these lost files sequentially. its common, even windows does it chkdsk /f.

if its super important you just take your time and open the files in hex editor or similiar program, if the file header is still there it will have the file type, Mp4, mp3 etc. so at least you can rename it with proper file extension, and then listen to it and decide to keep or trash it.

yeah its a pain, but there is little magic in the world of disk recovery, its mostly hard work and luck and persistence (oh and often a bit of $$$$)

 

Every time I see this thread I see STDs.

 

I see dead hard drives....

 

Betamax vs VHS...

Heartbreaking.

Coincidentally, I just swapped out a 15 year old Seagate Barracuda from an old Windows 7 machine last week - It had developed a few bad sectors so it couldn't be trusted. I replaced it with a Western Digital Black, which is what I use exclusively for spinning drives for many years now. 24 hours later the machine wouldn't boot and was stalling at the drive load sequence in the BIOS. Initially I thought the new drive was faulty but them traced it to another, a WD Black that was perhaps 10 years old. I removed it and placed it in a caddy so I could inspect it - a single bad sector had appeared. I error checked it, ran a disk self-test and it didn't fail or produce further bad sectors. I noticed while looking at the SMART data that it had been powered on for a total of 4 years (WD Blacks are specced for 3 so reasonably over spec). I put it back in the PC and it booted and read the disk ok. Of course I wasn't going to just leave it in and carry on like it was fine, one bad sector is one too many and it obviously needed replacing. The following day the machine wouldn't see the drive again, it was just listed as "unknown drive". I pulled it out again and attempted to read it in the caddy and the caddy was just powering down after 30 secs as if there wasn't a drive in it. Obviously the board had now failed and wasn't delivering SMART data to the SCSI - From 100% working to 0 in 48 hours. So, two drives in less than a week = annoying, but I lost nothing as I have two more backups...

I don't use anything but:
HDD: Western Digital Black
SSD: Samsung Pro
NVME: Samsung Pro
Optical: Verbatim
These have proven the most reliable for me after 30 years of data hoarding experience.

 

Last edited: Feb 7, 2025

For the sake of healthy argument i will play. Let's say this is possible. Although you present it as probable instead. How do you explain such a thing happening or is it an unknown/unstable variable.

If that's what your power of deduction tells you my friend, who am i to say this not at all what i meant .
Speaking for real though, hdds only retain data longer in a perfect world scenario. They are mechanical drives and are prone to physical degradation of individual components and damage much more often than ssds.
-Are hdds more fixable than ssds? Yes they are.
-If i want one drive for backup what is the best choice, hdd or ssd? SSD.
-But why since hdds are serviceable and ssds in most cases are not? Because ssds are 10x faster and 100x more responsive, not prone to magnetic surface errors thus don't need pro recovery, don't fragment whatsoever, are not mechanical so there's no wear and tear of moving parts, causing eventual failure.
Solid state storage has a finite number of writes, that's it. I can live with that and anyone long enough in this, will want their one backup drive to be ssd not hdd. After all, every respectable ssd brand have their own soft suite to inform you about the ssd's remaining life and that's what any user should take into account. Things like the "ssd will die suddenly" will happen only to the careless ones. Not saying that it's impossible but the possibility falls under the relativity section, if you know what i mean hehehe.
So speaking with numbers now:
From one of the largest recovery companies (in the US and worldwide) called PITS, the ssd annual failure is 1.6% and for hdd is 7.7%. And this number comes from an initial study of Backblaze. Add to this that a good percentage of ssd users don't even know that they have to install their ssd's soft to monitor their drive's life, something that i come across much too often, and the ssd failure number is actually much smaller than the actual one. So.
In the old days we used to move data around from old hdd to the newer better hdd. Also zip drives, then jazz drives etc. Now that ssd tech speeds up all processes dramatically, everybody clinging to the old ways is just missing out imho. Again i must remind here, all this refers to a single drive solution, for anything else larger in size, a nas with a combo of good hdds in a redundant array with possibly a ssd for cache drive is recommended and still viable.
Also, @Balisani referring to 3 different geophysical locations for backups isn't mad at all, he is perfectly right but under a strict professional environment that implies the user has the economical efficiency to do so. I have to express my sympathy for the destruction of your property here, both hardware and artistic work/property lost is a disaster, i hope life brings it all back to you tenfold mate.
Cheers guys

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2025

SDD's are notoriously difficult to recover data from, and are quite expensive.

 

Backups, backups, backups and more backups

Be smart and expect the worst and hope for the best. Burst water pipes, fire, Trojans and viruses, ransomware, power outages, just imagine you can no longer access your data, your thought is probably "I should have just made a backup".

Buy an external SSD and save your passwords, family photos, important documents and your own songs and put them in a safe place or in a fireproof case. Also remember that water damage can sometimes occur. Thieves also like to steal your data storage.

If you are short on money, burn a CD/DVD or use a high-quality USB stick. Put it in a waterproof case, glass with a screw cap or a storage container with a lid.

Make a complete backup of your hard drive C:/ on a second hard drive. The second hard drive must be at least as large as your hard drive C:/. Using the emergency CD that you created with backup software, you can then restore your entire hard drive C:/.

 

I've used a 250 GB Hitachi HDD as my C Drive from 2009 to 2022.
After I assembled my new PC using SSD for Drive C, it hasn't been half a year since it dead. So I have to claim warranty with new SSD.

I always believe there must be one or two factory defects.
But as long as I still use electricity for electronic goods, there is a possibility that errors or disasters can befall my electronic goods due to fluctuating voltage.

Currently, the Hitachi 250 GB HDD (from 2009) is still functioning well as back up storage.

 

Most of what you get today is high end and basically flawless in terms of CPU, RAM and SSD.

The rest is more material fatigue and signs of wear and tear, and capacitors aren't made to last forever either. That's why even in modern countries there is a residual current device on the fuse box; the fuse blows before your hardware is damaged.

Make sure you use a high-quality power supply, power supplies have a built-in surge
protector that protects them from damaging other hardware components.

bequit! POWER ZONE 2 - 750W

- OTP (overheating protection) ✓
- OCP (overcurrent protection) ✓
- OPP (overload protection) ✓
- SCP (short circuit protection) ✓
- OVP (overvoltage protection) ✓
- UVP (undervoltage protection) ✓
- SIP (protection against overvoltage and excessive inrush current)

 

so i'm gonna take that as a yes, then...

 

SSD and SSHD ant go wrong with either

 

Long term? HDD. You could leave a hdd unplugged for years and your data will still be there when you plug it in again. If you copy your files to an ssd and leave it unplugged for 2 years your data will be gone.

 

You are making a big mistake. If you put it on the shelf, you will still be able to read your data in 30 years or more. SSDs back up your data indefinitely. Only a limited amount of data can be stored and retrieved on an SSD because the flash memory only allows a limited number of write operations.

 

I gave my brother first gen SSD and it´s still working, it´s almost 20 years old.. that letting it lay down for years to ruining it is nonsense