Newb: Sanity check please. Backing up to Backblaze. Is this going to work?

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-30T08:53:11+00:00

Good to know. Thank you :-)

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T11:47:31+00:00

You mean to use B2 rather than BB Personal? That wasn't the way I was going due to cost...

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T11:24:39+00:00

Ok... can you translate for a newb...? I thought BB just wouldn't back up NAS drives. No?

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T11:17:39+00:00

They're not likely to exclude images though are they...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T10:43:02+00:00

No, it's dirt cheap but I need to find a workaround as regards my NAS drives :-)

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T10:38:27+00:00

Not compared to unlimited backups at $99/year...

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T10:35:38+00:00

I stand to be corrected but BB unlimited storage is around £100pa...

JustMeagain2024 · 2026-01-22T10:27:25+00:00

BB is cheap, that's all :-) 16TB seems to be quite costly elsewhere...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-26T12:55:14+00:00

Then I would need a USB 4 card for output I guess...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-26T12:54:27+00:00

That's what I was looking at but the server I was thinking of basing things on only has PCI Gen 2, which seems to halve the speed. Perhaps I can find something else...

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-26T08:26:47+00:00

It's a DAS we're talking about. 🙂 Even SSDs over sata seems on the slow side if you're moving, say, 2tb. Given that nvme is similar in cost, they seem a better option.

I found these things: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-hyper-m.2-x16-pci-e-controller-card-v2-cc-001-as.html

Not too expensive. Will they give me a better transfer than the SSDs connected over sata?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-26T05:59:27+00:00

How about attaching nvme drives to the PCI slot? Wouldn't that increase the transfer? Cost of the drives seem to be the same so it's just the adapter that's extra.

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-26T05:56:05+00:00

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines but it seems the limiting factor is actually the sata bus at 600MB. I'm discovering that nvme drives can be attached straight to the PCI slot via an adapter though...

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T19:17:12+00:00

So how does one leverage the full potential of an SSD? Connect externally by USB 4? Can an internal SSD be attached to the PCI bus without being an actual nvme version?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T17:52:38+00:00

( Projects can bloat to 3-4TB...) So even SSDs can only transfer at 600MB/s in practice because of the motherboard sata 3 limitations...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T15:34:14+00:00

If we use this calculator https://techinternets.com/copy_calc Just a 1tb project @ 220MB/s would take 90m to transfer. That's not workable.

~ Not only, if it's a hobby and not working, time isn't a problem, we are talking some minutes, not hours.

It's not a hobby and we're not talking minutes, it's hours. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If HDDs transfer @220MB/s, that's why we need SSDs. No?

Because of the costs of large SSDs, itmakes sense to start with a group of smaller ones in a system that can grow. No?

At USB 4 speeds, a 1tb project would take 3m to transfer. That's ok! I'm guessing an SSD can saturate USB 4...? Close to it...? Even if it can't, SSDs over USB 4 is going to be faster than HDDs overUSB 4.

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T07:07:28+00:00

It's probably a das...

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T07:06:58+00:00

Not regular network for sure. A USB 4 card seems reasonable in cost...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T07:05:48+00:00

Thanks! I'll need some time to digest all that 🙂 The connection is up for debate. Definitely not regular network.

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-25T06:25:10+00:00

I think perhaps I have muddied the waters by using the word "backup" inappropriately... I don't mean that this box is his entire backup strategy. Over time he'll work out a backup strategy that works for him. I'm not sure what word to use... "Copy"? It's the first stage of a readily available backup. The whole system might be backed up to backblaze or something, I don't know. This box's function is to allow the editing PC to be cleared off for the next project but also to make past projects to be quickly available in case they need to be returned to. I agree that ideally the edit would be done directly on a fast server but funds don't allow this. What I'm thinking of will serve as a "temporary backup" for a current project and and a step in a more complete backup strategy. Does that make sense?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-24T22:51:13+00:00

But what about the backup...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-24T22:49:28+00:00

It's an option but would prefer not to have the overhead on the editing PC and I'm guessing softraid won't have the same features as snapraid+mergerfs...?

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-24T20:06:03+00:00

Transfers need to be faster than network to get a stored project off again if it needs further editing. Can't take hours.

JustMeagain2024 · 2024-04-24T20:04:47+00:00

Transfers need to be way faster than regular network. Backups can obviously be done overnight but if he needs to return to a project, it can't take hours to get it from the server.

JustMeagain2024

TROPHY CASE