Backup entire System ( 4TB+ ) the fast way. HOW?

Durahl · 02 Oct 2011

Hi there!

I'd like to backup my entire System or at least most of it onto a seperate Computer/NAS but as the size of what has to be transferred has gotten quite big in the meantime ( 4TB+ ) so I'm running into a problem concerning the time it takes to do this.

Let me get some facts about me:
Right now I consider myself a Noob when it comes to networking 2 PC's together mainly because I'm not working with it that much.
Other than that I can solve pretty much any other computer problem in the blink of an eye.

What I'm looking for:
- A system that serves as a backup for my entire current system which has about 4TB of storage housing - MANDATORY!
- A system that does the Copy/Move Process of the respective files fast - MANDATORY!
Waiting 11.65h to transfer 1 TB of files at ~25 MB/Sec over a GBit Network is an absolute no go.
If possible I'm looking for something that rivals the 150-200 MB/Sec from my internal RAID-0.
- A system that serves as a MediaServer for my Home Cinema System either directly connected to the TV or a PS3 - OPTIONAL

What I've tried so far:
I recently bought myself a QNAP TS-412 which transfers the files at speeds of ~25 MB/Sec not giving me a happy face.
Blame me for trusting the clerk at the shop where I bought it before reading through the specs.

What I could do:
Build a second PC from former HighEnd bits and pieces acting as a homemade NAS.
Question is will this give me the results that I demand or will it lack the same way as the NAS?

I really hope to get some help/advice in this.

seavixen32 · 02 Oct 2011

You might want to check this tutorial on using Windows 7's Robocopy utility.

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

You'll get a fast file transfer with it, but its main drawback is that it copies folders, not individual files.

Durahl · 02 Oct 2011

@ seavixen32:
Your suggestion does not solve the hardware related problem of my current backup solution only providing ~25 MB/Sec transfer rates which I find horrible when facing 4TB of files to be moved.

pparks1 · 02 Oct 2011

Durahl said:

Right now I consider myself a Noob when it comes to networking 2 PC's together mainly because I'm not working with it that much.
Other than that I can solve pretty much any other computer problem in the blink of an eye.

Nothing much to worry about here, wiring 2 computers together is a pretty simple task. And more or less, it works or it doesn't.

Durahl said:

A system that serves as a backup for my entire current system which has about 4TB of storage housing -

That's a lot of data, the first backup is going to take awhile.

Durahl said:

If possible I'm looking for something that rivals the 150-200 MB/Sec from my internal RAID-0.

This is going to be nearly impossible. Reason being, is that 1Gbps translates to a theoretical max of about 125MB/sec. With overhead and such, for TCP/IP, the max you are likely to get is closer to about 75% utilization, so around 90MB/sec. And of course, you need hard drives at both sides which can keep up with this figure as well.

My questions to you are as follows;

--What type of a backup do you want?

For example, at my house, I run a robocopy job regularly which copies all of the important data from my server to an external USB drive. These important items consist of videos, pictures, and data files. The first time I run it, it's a full backup and copy of all files from the source. Subsequent file backups are fast, as it only copies the changes since the last time it has run. This type of backup is nice as the files are in no special format on my external USB drive. I can attach to any computer and get my data back. I also copy to a pair of external USB drives and always keep 1 or both offsite. Because if my house burns down or somebody breaks in and steals everything, I don't want my source and destination to be gone at the same time. The disadvantage to this backup, is it's just a single copy of the data from a single timeframe (the last time i ran backup). So, I cannot pick and choose backup times.

Now, at home I also do a system image of my workstation. This allows me to quickly put my entire machine back exactly the way that it was. But I only image my C drive...I don't image my data. The data backup would come from the above. This keeps my backups and restores quick and small.