>>1264711>What are my options?You could occasionally copy files to an external hard drive. Sync software makes sure that only the updated files are copied over. To protect against bit dropouts on the backup drive, you use either RAR recovery records (if you store things in the RAR archive format) or PARCHIVE for files such as large videos.
RAR archive format supports a special type of redundant data called the recovery record. Presence of recovery record makes an archive larger, but allows to repair it even in case of physical data damage due to disk failure or data loss of any other kind, provided that the damage is not too severe. Such damage recovery can be done with Repair archive command. ZIP archive format does not support the recovery record. The drawback is that the RAR archive must be used.
PARCHIVE is free to use and has stood the test of time. I use the freeware Multipar which is linked at the wikipedia page below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParchiveI use external docks for hard drive backups. I then store the hard drives on the bookshelf until needed once again. Cheap and efficient, it lets me use 8TB NAS hard drives. Because backup drives aren't running except for the short time I am writing or reverifying their content, I am satisfied with buying cheap used NAS drives. Most companies ditch their NAS drives after 3 years of use, so there is an occasionally ample supply at one of the local used computing goods shops (pc recycling). Prices range from $29 for a used 4TB WD Red NAS and go up from there.
