Cheap Archive Storage
I’ve been searching for the best solutions for an offsite archive this week and ran across two wonderful surprises.
A) Seagate’s 5tb hard drive it’s by far the cheapest per terabyte drive I’ve seen. The drive itself is a great solution, especially with the 2 year data recovery option for only $10. But I wanted to take it a step further and raid the drives together for extra protection. I use the Drobo 5D for my day to day use, but its a bit pricy for an archive solution. That’s where the plane old usb3 drobo comes in.
B) The Drobo is a stripped down version of the Drobo 5D for when you don't need the extra speed of a hot cache and thunderbolt connection. What I didn’t realize is that it was only $280 without drives! With those new 5tb drives you can get 15TB of redundant storage for less the $800. USB3 is fine for archiving.
Just know if you order those externals you have to break the casing. I found needlenose pliers and a screwdriver to be most effective!
Let me know if you all know of some cheaper solutions or if anyone has had success with LTO tape.
