Data Access if EX2 Dies

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud EX2
1

Hey guys, just posting a hypothetical because debating changing my current setup.

Right now, I have 2x4TB drives in my EX2, no RAID. Drive A is for movies, Drive B is for TV series. I have the EX2 connected with a CAT6 ethernet cable direct to the router, and another CAT6 ethernet from the router to my PC, and another to my media player. All connected with ethernet so nice and fast and stable.

My PC has a hot swappable SATA bay for hard drives, and I have 2x4TB drives I keep in heavy duty cases and every 2-3 months I put the drives in and make a mirrored copy of my EX2 drives. Software just looks at the changes and modifies the drive to match the EX2 drive.

Easy setup. If the EX2 were to die right now and catch fire and melt even… I have backups safe on a shelf that I can access from any computer.

Money wise, instead of buying 4x8TB drives to upgrade with (2 for the EX2 and 2 for the copies) it’s about the same price as buying 2x16TB drives and still no raid, but, have everything on Drive A, and have the EX2 make a mirror copy to Drive B. That way, fewer drives, and auto backups daily.

Questions - If the EX2 died, how hard is it to access my data? Windows system, no unix/linux or whatever (tried it, hated it). I’ve seen a lot of forum posts where people can’t access the data, system says drive needs formatted which means losing data, files encrypted and can’t access on another PC, etc.

Would switching to 2x16TB drives although easier for backups, be a worse backup system than I have now? Just switch to 4x8TB drives instead and keep on doing what’s been working?

2

Hi @THRobinson,

Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask

3

Why would I open a case?

4

I think the process you would use is called “Raid Roaming”. Check it out.

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/7721

5

Here is what I do:

EX2 sits in the corner.

I have a HDD sitting on a shelf. Every few weeks, I take it down and do an incremental backup from the EX2 to the HDD. Pretty easy if most of the files don’t change over time.

Every year or two, I retire the HDD; and start backing up to a fresh HDD. That way, if I get a virus in the system. . . .it may get my EX2. . . it may get my HDD. . . but it really shouldn’t get to the previous years HDD. BTW: The biggest hazard to my data is that I delete something. Every few years, I find myself digging into the archives.

In reality: My “day to day” data lives on portable SSD. I back this up every few days to the EX2 as part of normal routine. (NO DATA resides on my PC’s. . . . )

6

Well, first I’d like to say, the email notifications on this site don’t work. :smiley: I have responses again and never got an email despite being enabled.

@NAS_user so, sounds like you basically do what I do now, and probably the best way to be safe.

Again, I have 2 x 4TB drives in the NAS, JBOD setup not RAID… one drive has movies, the other tv series. Every few months I put the backup drives into my hot-swappable drive bay on the PC, and do a backup up each drive. Those HDDs are identical makes/models, and when done I put them into these hardshell cases and on a shelf.

Assuming from the responses… just keep doing that to be safe.