Actually, I've started using a distributed online service that backs up my important A/V files and stores copies of them on thousands of other computers around the world. I sleep better at night knowing my data is protected by the best redundant storage system on the planet. Best of all, it's free - people are so dedicated to preserving others' data that they contribute their own bandwidth and hard drives to the project. I salute them.

But then everyone can find my super secret porn stash!

#1: What's it called?

just put 3 in RAID-5 setup, as long as only one breaks at a time, you have 2TB of data at your disposal, backed up in case things go wrong. When one dies, just hope your other ones don't die while you're waiting for a replacement.

Not a great deal for a 1TB. You can find them for around $200 nowadays.

anyone looked at the black friday price on a 1tb hard drive ?? go check it out

joy? I don't think that is feeling most experience when a drive fails. I think I would rather stick with 2 X 500GB drives. . .

Here is a soultion no one mentioned DVDs. I periodically back up files on dvds. Just little by little. When my computer is sitting unused I let it burn and back up my files. Keep them all in a nice DVD wallet.

Seriously, any amount of content you generate should be cheap enough to back up. Even if you're taking raw hi-res photos at 20 megs a shot, a cheap 500GB drive would hold 25,000 images. Recording music? 500GB holds over 800 hours of uncompressed CD bitrate PCM. Text? Hah. The only user-generated content that really eats up disk space is HD video, and if you're editing lots of HD video, hard drives are a relatively minor expense compared to pro HD hardware and software.

No, the vast majority of people who need terabytes of storage are either getting it via P2P, which is backed up via the nature of peer-to-peer sharing, or by ripping DVDs or CDs, which conveniently serve as their own backup media.

So it works out either way: For most people, backing up their self-made content is cheap, and content made by others generally takes care of itself. But do make sure you protect any DRMmed content you "own"; Apple will let you re-download your library (if you contact their support and ask them), but many services will tell you you're screwed if you lose your files. Worst of both worlds, as always.

I don't know whether a HD that's > 500GB will be wise to spend money on since you're storing so much data and once it crashes, there goes your data.

I'd rather have a mirrored pair of 1TB drives than 500GB drives, because that leaves me some empty bays to add more later.

I don't really believe in RAID. What if the computer catches fire... if you really want you data safe, the extra set should be elsewhere.

not a terribly appealing offer.. especially since its WD

smaller drives are better because they can be accesed faster. Who wants to wait around while it searches 1 ter..sheesh at 7500 that would take 20 mins

I agree with #12. RAID is good for sequential transfer performance and for uptime-is-god servers, but I'd rather go with a conventional backup for the average PC. A RAID won't help you if the system gets a virus or damages a system file. RAID won't help if the user accidentally deletes a folder full of important files. RAID won't help if the crappy onboard controller dies (and trust me, I've seen more onboard RAID controllers die than the hard drives connected to them). RAID won't help if there's a fire or lightning strike. In fact, RAID (particularly striped RAIDs) can often complicate data recovery.

If you want a good backup, use a NAS connected with a good AVR/On-line UPS and surge protected network line. If you want a great backup, go off-site (sneakernet or Internet).

never buy WD, it'll fail like Maxtors. then all 1Tb of your data will be gone. You'll wish you never bought this.

It'll be fun to defrag this thing.

Umm, it's pretty easy to generate a lot of data of you have HTPC or two and schedule recordings regularly.

4 drives is a good solution. RAID5 3 x 500GB drives in your NAS or fileserver, then use a drive with more platters (and thus more wear) for offline backup of that RAID5 array. 1TB drive meets the offline backup need.

As for onboard RAID controllers, don't use them except for a plain old RAID1, get a PCI or PCI Express card for any other raid level so the array can be migrated in case of board failure.

Contrary to some people feeling WD or Maxtor are failure prone, larger studies suggest the failure rates are not significantly higher. On the other hand these studies were of drives in actively cooled servers, some models of WD run cooler making them more suited to small external or NAS enclosures with passive cooling. This drive? I don't know if it is cooler running as one factor against it is having more platters but all else being equal it should be if contrasted with same # of platters in a different make.

Heed well those who are saying to not consider RAID as a backup. It's for data integrity in case of a hard drive failure, only.
But get a virus... or have somebody steal your computer... or have a fire... or flood... or disk controller failure... or delete something by mistake... or....

There are a bunch of things that will kill your RAID disks that won't affect an off-site backup. Anything important is worth keeping in two separate locations.