I need help with my storage and backup plan

[Chad Andreo]

I am currently looking to update my storage and backup plan since my old solution is no longer sufficient for my workload. I have spent the past few hours researching different solutions, but I am still unsure of what would work best for me. (Raid, Drobo, a bunch of external HDs with old content in a cabinet, etc )
Should I just stock up on more external HDs or Get something like this Raid and a 1.5GB OWC dual Mini Elite for video and call it a day?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My current setup:
MacBook Pro
250GB SSD
750GB Partitioned (250GB SSD Backup + 500GB Media Storage which I use for my Photography Business)

My HDs:
OWC Mini Elite 500GB aka my "Video Working Projects Drive"
2TB Seagate GoFlex
3TB Seagate GoFlex aka My backup for everything

My current storage solution
Video:
- Project Files and Renders -> MBP SSD which is backed up hourly using CCC to my 750GB internal HD, OWC Mini and 2TB Seagate Backup HD
- Working Projects Files -> OWC Mini Elite
- Non-Current Video Storage -> Seagate 2TB which is backed up to my Seagate 3TB
Photos:
- Current Projects on my MBP internal 750GB HD.
- All photos stored on 2TB Seagate and Backed up on 3TB Seagate

What I am hoping to accomplish is:
2x Backup of all video footage in addition to my current working projects(which I would like to continue to have stored on a portable external HD for traveling purposes). Im thinking OWC Elite or Dual Elite.
2x Backup of all of my photography in addition to my current projects which is stored on my MBP internal storage drive.

Thanks

[Trevor Dennis]

I use Shadow Protect because the lads on the Adobe Premiere Pro Hardware forum advised it when I built my current system at the beginning of this year. Shadow Protect is set for 15 minute incremental backups to a USB3 2Tb WD My Book external drive. I also have a second manual back up of critical files on an internal drive.

My raid0 project drive has failed since then, and I was thankful for the $100 investment I'd made in SP.

SP Can also keep a virtual copy of your OS drive on a bootable DVD and other drive. They claim you can be up and running five minutes after losing your OS drive.

Tom's Hardware reported that HDD production is fully back up to speed after the Thailand floods, but I am told that is not yet reflected in drive prices. I love the USB3 externals. They are almost as fast as my non-raid0 internals, and have their own PSU. Half of my 12Tb storage is spread over four USB3 WD My Book externals.

[Chad Andreo]

Thanks for the reply, but I am not sure if that will work for me since I own a 2011 MBP which only has Firewire and USB 2.0.

[Ron Evans]

Not sure for the MAC but I use Quantum LTO3 tape unit LTO Tape Drives Data Storage Product - LTO 3HH Overview and also keep finished projects on a hard drive as well for convenience. Use Retrospect 7.7 as backup software Retrospect: for Windows. They have versions for MAC too. Tape unit is fast will backup/restore at the speed of the drives and economical as an LTO3 tape is about $25 for 400G. The LTO4 models are a little more expensive but have twice the capacity and are faster too though to be fair the backup is really governed by the speed of the hard drives on my system about 65MBps sustained.

Ron Evans

EDIT: Just realized you are using a laptop so my solution will not really work for you.

[Tom Keller Christensen]

Backup all comes to which level of security you want.

Personally I use a 160 GB SSD drive and a 1 TB HDD as workspace.
When the footage is complete I put it onto a NAS drive. The NAS has 4
HDD 1.5 TB drives running RAID 5. This means if 1 HDD should break
down, I will not loose anything. I can just put an new HDD into the NAS
and it will then recreate all.
The 4 x 1.5 TB gives me ~4.5 TB space.

My NAS is from Synology. It has a photo station and file station and
a lot more. So if you need to access the files outside your home, this
is a great thing.

If I have something that is really important to me, I will do another copy
to a BlueRay disc. ~ 50-60 GB on one disc thats ok for even high def.
footage.

[Chad Andreo]

Considering my limited options with my 2011 MBP, is this potential setup below my best option?
I came up with this setup using Millaard's Chart and this video. Optimizing Hard Disks - Lesson

Drives
A. SSD 256GB: OS, Programs/Applications and Cache

B. HDD 750GB 7200rpm: Scratch Disk Previews Video and Audio

C. External Firewire HD Raid0 1.5TB: Media Files, Project Files(I'd prefer to have these on an internal HD) and Scratch Disk Captured Video and Audio

[Keith Dobie]

Chad - when you get your hardware worked out, I think it's worth looking into something like Super Duper! (Shirt Pocket Software) as part of your backup routine. (in addition to Time Machine). It can make a bootable copy of your startup drive. Basic version is free I think. (OS X)