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Best way to backup files (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 months ago by emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I have about 500GB of data (photos, documents, videos etc.) that I have accumulated over the years. Currently, I keep them on my computer and rsync all additions / changes once a month or so to an external hard drive. Do I need to be worried about data loss (sectors going bad, bit rot, bit flip, whatever it is called)?

To clarify,

None of this is commercially important; I just don't want to get into a situation where I look up an old family photo or video twenty years down the line and it has got corrupted.
Both my computer and the external HD are HDDs. They are fairly cheap here (and very cheap if second hand). Buying SSDs or dedicated hardware would be expensive.

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[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In my experience, a well treated, non overused physical hard drive can and likely will hold up for over 15 years.

I haven't had any problems with any of my HDDs, but I don't stress them out with daily gaming or video production, and I don't toss them around like footballs, obviously.

Just speaking from my own experiences though..

[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

My external HD is working well, but the computer's HD seems to be of poor quality. I'm worried that once the primary copy gets corrupted, the mistakes will then be copied to the external HD as well. (Although if I understand rsync correctly, this shouldn't happen.)