Ask Slashdot: Best On-Site Backup Plan?

An anonymous reader writes "I know most people use backup services in the cloud now, off-site, but does anyone have good ideas on how to best protect data without it leaving the site? I'm a photographer and, I shoot 32GB to 64GB in a couple of hours. I've accumulated about 8TB of images over the past decade and just can't imagine paying to host them somewhere off-site. I don't make enough money as it is. Currently I just redundantly back them up to hard drives in different rooms of my house, but that's a total crapshoot — if there's a fire, I'd be out of luck. Does anyone keep a hard disk or NAS inside a fireproof safe? In a bunker in the cellar? In the detached garage? It's so much data that even doing routine backups bogs the system down for days. I'd love suggestions, especially from gamers or videographers who have TBs of data they need to back up, on what options there are with a limited budget to maximize protection."

USB Stick

[Anonymous Coward]

My preferred way is to copy the data to many different USB sticks. I write a little note with my name and address on it, slip the that and the stick into a bottle and pitch it into the ocean. Data is safe from fires and most other natural disasters. Best of all, people around the world contact me (we even become FB friends after!) and return the USB with all my data!

Works like a charm

megaupload

[Anonymous Coward]

megaupload

Mom?

[microcars]

Give your mom a box of backups and ask her to hold on to it, it is "stuff you made"
She'll never get rid of it.
and if the house catches fire, it will be the first thing she grabs when she runs out.

Re:Offsite != cloud

[Anonymous Coward]

And if you don't have any friends, keep one in a bank's safe deposit box. They're usually not that pricey.

Be careful with that, I store my expensive 200+ pound pull strength rare earth magnets in mine :)

Re:raid 0 swap

[funwithBSD]

My RAID goes to 11, man....

Re:Mom?

[funwithBSD]

Glue some macaroni art on the drives if you think she might forget what they are...

Re:Fireproof Hard Drive

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, I'm going to go with the fire fighter.

Re:Offsite != cloud

[MightyYar]

Yes, it seems like every other day some poor photographer has his photos rifled through by the local bank.

Re:Offsite != cloud

[Culture20]

And if you don't have any friends, keep one in a bank's safe deposit box.

Don't forget to poke holes in the safe deposit box so he can breathe.