[LOCKSUIT]

Oh also use ExactFile to make sure your data is the same 1s & 0s on all your drives. Backing up doesn't mean the data will be the same. ExactFile creates checksums that do detect even 1 pixel shade change.

[kei10]

[LOCKSUIT]

I don't understand kei, do you mean the topic or the concept? We have indeed been talking about safe backup security strategies. While the concept or reply explaining the strategy/program is clear.

[infurl]

If you are serious about data integrity you should be using ZFS and some flavour of Unix, however ZFS can also be used in conjunction with Windows. Although ZFS needs some fairly powerful hardware to run it effectively (8GB of RAM is the minimum), most new systems would meet the requirements nowadays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS

It makes it very easy to set up a hot swappable array of disks. Every block of data is fingerprinted, it has extremely efficient on-the-fly compression, and you can specify a minimum (or maximum if using automatic de-duplication) number of copies of any given data item. It will automatically distribute the copies across the available devices and it will automatically detect and repair data faults.

[LOCKSUIT]

What if CPU screws up - all hard drives will get the same mess. Better to write one note, then do it again to the other copy! Also I don't want more noise/heat etc in my pc so it's ok. Of course there is probably a more better way I can possibly easily achieve for 100% intergrity ex. 2 CPUs w 2 HDDs with liquid nitrogen w sound proofing but what I'm doing is good enough it's ok.

[infurl]

The systems I'm using typically have 30 or 40 CPU cores, 800GB of RAM and many terabytes of SSD storage, so your mileage may vary.

[Freddy]

I'm just happy with my external drive 

I've tried a few things over the years. CDRW - some I have that are over a decade old still work. Then there's the cloud services if you feel okay that the stuff you store there is going to be safe - things like bookmarks and research notes maybe - that are only useful to yourself - certainly not private things.

[Art]

@ Freddy...couldn't have said it much better!

I rely on my external HD to keep personal files, records, various forms, medical, business, etc. I'm not about to trust putting all that information on someone else's hard drive somewhere (who knows exactly where), and hope that the Sysop is a trusting, honest soft of person)...Yeah...right.   Been there, done that before!

Nope, and it matters not the info that you have entrusted. After all, it's YOUR information and if it's lost, corrupted, infected or phished...well, then it's a bit too late.

Given the really low cost of external drives one would really have to think twice about not having one for backup, storage, security, peace of mind.

Check prices at: www.pricewatch.com for Hard Drives and practically any other computer related items. I've been using that site for years as a guide before I choose to purchase a product.