I'll try to be straightforward. After considering several options, I'd like your advice and opinions for this situation.
I want to combine everything I have from several HDDs into a single HDD (20 TB) and create a scheduled backup. I don't want to use NAS/DAS/RAID.

Recommendations for:

1 x 20 TB 3.5" HDD (I'd buy 2)
1 x 3.5" HDD enclosure, horizontal
1 x Scheduled Backup Software

Thank you very much,

 

Software: rsync. It has quite a learning curve, but it's just a script, not rocket science. Take some time to learn how to use it.

Personally, I have a N100 Linux Server with internal and external HDDs. I use rsync to back up my PC/Mac every hour to the Linux server with rsync. Then the Linux server backs up all folders my life depends on in a second step with a time machine script (and rsync) to the external HDD. The external HDD is read only for my PC/Mac and writable only for the Linux server.

Whenever I work on something and mess up, the worst I can lose is 1.5 hours of work. I can always restore from worst case 1.5 hours ago. Whenever I would catch a virus encrypting my files, it has no write access to the external HDD and the files stay safe.

 

Where do you have your operating system installed?
Unfortunately, you didn't describe how you intend to back up the operating system or how big the hard drive is.

I would simply copy all your stuff onto one hard drive, leaving a few hundred gigabytes free, then install the second hard drive and copy everything from the previous drive to the second one. I would label the second hard drive, remove it, and store it safely. You can then simply replace it if you lose the old one.

You can of course install a new hard drive and use a tool to copy your operating system to the new one, then fill it with your data, then install the second new one and then use backup software to completely back up your first hard drive to the second hard drive.

 

My Windows 10 operating system is on an SSD (I don't want to backup the system.). I have all my samples, presets, VSTs, and programs on multiple HDDs. I want to consolidate them onto a single 20TB HDD and use only that HDD. I'll buy another 20TB HDD to serve as a backup. I have other SSDs that hold the samples I use most so I don't have to use the HDDs.

One 20TB HDD for all my stuff ----> One 20TB HDD for backup

 

Although I can't give a direct answer to solve your problem, ill just tell you how I go about it on Windows in a simple way.

If you want to do regular backups of your OS drive, you can use the Windows built in drive closing imaging software on a separate HDD, but I believe it requires a full rewrite of the OS image for every backup. Sucks that it doesn't add changes to an existing backup (like Time Machine on macOS), but it does work for a backup.

There's also a program called I think Macrium Reflect(?) and the free version allows for a complete bootable backup of a Win boot drive.

As for my sample library, kontakt library, and internal HDD drive, I simply back up the files on those drives every once in a while.

If youre doing a ton of video editing or music production, I'd recommend backing up all of those files on a separate drive from your Win OS backup drive.

(1) 20TB backup drive = only one drive needs to fail for you to lose everything.

Edit: As for combining all of your existing HDDs on to one HDD, I dont know of a software that can do that automatically. Wouldn't Windows be pulling its file location information from different drive locations? (Ex. D:/ E:/ F:/). Wouldn't that fuck up all of your existing files locations for programs?

You could just do the file movement manually to the single New HDD. It sucks, but I dont know of a simple way to do it otherwise.

 

I don't want a system backup.
Just backup one 20 tb hdd (samples, VSTs, presets,...)

I currently have three 8TB HDDs, and I need three more for backups. I don't want to have six HDDs, and I'll make backups of all three.

After much thought, I think I've decided to copy the three HDDs to a new 20TB HDD (that's not a problem). And then make scheduled backups from that new 20TB HDD.
This way, I'll only have two drives. I understand it's problem; if the drive fails, I lose everything, so I need to ensure I have one backup. (or cloud or more copies)

My question was a recommendation for:
- 20 TB 3.5" HDD (I'd buy 2) brand and model
- 3.5" HDD enclosure, horizontal model
- Scheduled Backup Software

thanks!

 

There are lots of options for scheduled backups.

If you want just copies you may try free options (FreeFileSync) or commercial ones (GoodSync, SyncBack). You may choose SyncBack Free, it is absolutely sufficient for backups of HDDs. I have real and long experience with GoodSync, it seems to work well. The free version is very limited, indeed.

Regarding scheduled backup with compression I'd recommend you to look at Kopia or Duplicati. They are free and are extensively used for really big backups in business environments so they are relatively well tested. They are miltiplatform, no UNIX/Linux only as rsync is. They are able to upload backups to clouds but don't bother with it, use it for local backup only. As I understand they cannot compress without decryption (Kopia definitely can't), so you may - and should - choose a simple password.

I'm testing Kopia for several days, it seems work well. It has GUI, you may make different scheduled snapshots of selected folders and disks, you may restore any snapshot (any version of it, you decide if you want to have several versions) or even mount a snapshot as a disk. Good level of compression (up to 30 %). All files are saved as archives of the same size, you need Kopia installed to access them.

But may be it is not what you want...

P. S. If you use specailized programs for backups it is not a problem to copy files from all three disks to a single one. Set it once, use it all the time. Just a thought.

 

As far as software goes, and if NOT a system drive, FreeFileSync is amazing, free and easy to use.
I use it for 5 years at least, and saved my a** several times

Add to that Task Till Down to launch FFS backups and you are good to go

 

A good idea. You should make sure that you don't overfill the hard drive, leave 20% free, use short file names, and disable Defender Avirus when copying files.

The 20% rule gives a rough indication of the capacity at which a hard drive's speed drops significantly. The further the used area of a hard drive is located, the slower access to it. Observing the 20% rule for storage space also has other advantages: if followed, there is always enough space for the operating system to defragment data and for any temporary or cached data.

MultiDrive - Backup, Clone, Erase Drives for Free
- High-speed disk management toolkit for Windows.
- Backup, clone, erase and restore entire drives with ease.
- Free CLI support included.
https://multidrive.io

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

CHKDSK (short for "Check Disk") is a Windows utility designed to find and repair system errors. It checks whether a file's size, location, and other system information match the data actually on the hard drive. CHKDSK also looks for parts of the hard drive that might corrupt your data.

In Windows 7, we find chkdsk in the disk properties menu. If we right-click on any disk in the "Computer" window and select "Properties" from the context menu, a window opens with numerous settings and analysis options for that drive.

chkdsk /f eliminates structural problems with the file system and the directory, correcting inconsistencies between the two.

How to run chkdsk /f to fix drive

CrystalDiskInfo
The free software CrystalDiskInfo allows you to perform detailed diagnostics and analyses of hard drives, such as HDDs and SSDs. CrystalDiskInfo provides a wide range of different values and information about the hard drive that clearly illustrate its health.

These include partitions, temperature, write and read error rate, rotation speed, memory and buffer sizes, firmware version, serial number, and the total operating hours of the hard drive.
https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

 

Last edited: Sep 6, 2025

I can vouch for FreeFileSync too, it's fairly simple clone/mirror files and folder structures kind of program,
it works reliably, can update folder contents, doesn't crash process on disk disconnect,
it's free, many languages supported, Windows+MacOS+Linux supported,

btw if you picked NAS, then Syncthing would be a clear choice

 

I used it under windows and now under Linux. You can schedule tasks in windows via taskplanner and in Linux via Crontab. You can choose daily, weekly, hourly, startup etc. You can choose to mirror or update whole disks or directories or part of directories with all kind of exceptions. This tool is so versatile that I donated because it is amazing for what it does.

 

Clone your HDD with this free program:

MultiDrive - Backup, Clone, Erase Drives for Free
- High-speed disk management toolkit for Windows.
- Backup, clone, erase and restore entire drives with ease.
- Free CLI support included.
https://multidrive.io

Duplicate HDD/SSD to multiple drives
Doing redundant backups to multiple locations? Setting up the system and all the apps for multiple users?
Use our free cloning tool to streamline this process, saving you both time and effort.
Download Now for Windows 11/10
https://multidrive.io/free-disk-cloning

 

I'd personally recommend avoiding Seagate drives as they are the worst drives I've used. Pretty sure they misled consumers with the CMR, SMR scandal. Also I've had weird errors with the 8TB seagate barracuda drives that have required a reformat. Haven't lost data though.

Also make sure the drive your'e buying is CMR, not SMR if you care about performance.

https://www.howtogeek.com/803276/cmr-vs.-smr-hard-drives-whats-the-difference/

I'd recommend HGST drives. Maybe a bit more expensive than Seagate, but definitely better. WD has been decent from my experience, but I've only owned a couple of them.

 

pretty sure Western Digital Red did that fuckery

 

https://www.slashgear.com/wd-seagat...l-smr-drives-without-telling-buyers-17617133/

Well, yes, as well as Seagate, Toshiba, and probably more companies lmao.

 

This topic post is useful for general Windows operation.

I see several tools mentioned above but also "Macrium Reflect" has been mentioned in other forums.

Also a few old topics here explore similar methods of external backup storages.

 

I'm using SyncBackPro to 'mirror' multiple directories from several different source drives to one 18TB backup drive. It takes some time to set it up correctly but once you have, it will only replace the files that have been added or changed on the sources since the last backup (mirror).

 

I see many application names mentioned here; some free, some $$.

majorgeeks.com
- is a good resource for all categories of software, including backup, sync etc.
* beware it's just as addictive as audioz for checking everyday @_@

 

Be careful

Macrium Reflect, Acronis ... and such are BLOCK based : you can't access separate files (until you mount the image) and need to recover the full partition
Mandatory for system partition to be bootable when restored.

FreeFileSync ... are FILE based : you can get any files you want, how you want, keep incremental files as files (not block on a monolithic backup)...
Better for data only backups, as you can get a more subtle recovery.

If you use a single partition (not disk) for system and data, you'd better do a block based backup AND keep a file based backup for files incremental.

I wish it is clear enough

 

Back in my windows days I used Macrium for my OS partition and FreeFileSync for my data.
Now I am on Linux and use Timeshift for my OS partition and still FreeFileSync for my data.
Turns out that Timeshift is able to restore partitions on a file based way. So you can choose.
But I guess people usually will need a full restore because of obvious problems.