I just realized how much disk space my videos eat up. PhRUG videos have now reached > 100GB, and with the new HD camera I’m expecting to use more space soon – Startup Weekend Manila 5 videos alone ate up 20+ GB and that’s just a 3.5 hour playlist.
So let’s take a look at the current long term backup solutions:
Cloud based
cheapest is Glacier at ~₱0.40 per GB / month, typical is S3’s ~₱3.20 per GB / month
pros
- convenient, can be automated, takes no physical space
cons
- costs pile up as time goes by e.g. ~₱4,800 per TB/yr for glacier, 8x that in S3
- backup and restore speed limited by bandwidth
Hard Disk Drive
~₱2.00 per GB, not cheap initially, but cheaper on the long run
pros
- backup and restore is fast and easy esp if you have an external docking station
cons
- if not filled, it’s not “around the cost of 5 months of Glacier”
- not sure how many years a rarely used HDD will last
recordable DVD
similar cost to HDD ~₱2.00 per GB
pros
- somewhat convenient, combines the “spend only as you need” of cloud and possible long term storage of HDDs
cons
- backup process is slow (writing is faster than cloud-based, but switching disks take time)
- finding quality media that would last years requires trial and error
- takes up more physical space than HDD when you reach terabyte levels
Tape Drive
browsing around Newegg tells me they hover around ₱4.00 per GB
pros
- small, built for long storage life
cons
- have to find a tape drive to borrow (business opportunity!)
- backup is slow, though still faster than cloud-based on crappy broadband
Any other thoughts on long-term backup?
