Need a new reliable external storage system

[1000possibleclaws]

So my trusty external failed a few weeks back, and I lost all my music (I have an old backup of that thank god) and alot of media that's irreplaceable. I've lost faith in one external harddrive as a means of storage and a means of backing up important data.

I'm using a laptop with ~300 gigs of internal disk space, and need to have external memory to hold all my music and video so that when I'm home I can plug it in and it will act as another internal harddrive. So it must withstand constant disk use, and is not meant for backing stuff up.

Someone told me building a server is a lot more reliable than external harddrives. I guess this would be because you could have multiple drives so that if one died you would still have everything important in a backup drive that you never actively use. Need some good recommendations on alternatives to external harddrives, don't want to lose my music a second time. Also would like the cheapest solution possible, a home server at future shop cost $400 and while it might be cheaper online it will still add up to almost a whole desktop when I add the drives to the price tag.

[Detale]

Well no matter what you do chances are you will be using a HDD, even if you build a server. I too have lost my music and pics some time last year due to external failure and GODDAMN does it suck.

What I do now if have more than one external and just use one for backup. What I have been meaning to do it set up a Raid 1 array for so if 1 disk fails I'd have the other one. I think this could be your best bet.

Another idea, albeit expensive is use a Solid State disk. they are supposes to be better and have a waay lower failure rate due to no heat or moving parts you WILL pay the premium though.

How many gigs of backup are you talking about here?

[1000possibleclaws]

Well I'd need to have around 500GB for purely backup purposes. I would also need at least 1TB that I'll be using daily.

Are there cheaper ways of making some sort of external multi-harddrive rigs that will slot internal harddrives in? I guess even 2 slots would work, assuming I could just change the harddrives alot depending if I'm backing something up or using something from a harddrive. If you house harddrives in a server box will they be more reliable then in single external cases?

[clocker]

You could always get an external drive caddy and just pop in drives as needed.
That's what I do and it works well.

Added advantage is that the drives are only active when actually being used and the caddies are cheap.
They're available with USB and eSATA connectivity...obviously, the eSATA link is preferable if possible.

[Cabalo]

Well I'd need to have around 500GB for purely backup purposes. I would also need at least 1TB that I'll be using daily.

Are there cheaper ways of making some sort of external multi-harddrive rigs that will slot internal harddrives in? I guess even 2 slots would work, assuming I could just change the harddrives alot depending if I'm backing something up or using something from a harddrive. If you house harddrives in a server box will they be more reliable then in single external cases?

What you are looking for is a NAS.
Look around at newegg, there probably are some there. Linksys had some good ones, and AFAIK asus is now producing them. It's a great solution, perfect for your needs.

[beansis]

You could always get an external drive caddy and just pop in drives as needed.
That's what I do and it works well.

Added advantage is that the drives are only active when actually being used and the caddies are cheap.
They're available with USB and eSATA connectivity...obviously, the eSATA link is preferable if possible.

could you give me a suggestion for how to make this?

I just filled up my 1.5TB Seagate

[clocker]

This
is what I have.
No problems in nearly two years of use.

[1000possibleclaws]

This
is what I have.
No problems in nearly two years of use.

Would it be reliable to use for constant usage ie streaming my music through my laptop, watching video? That's what I would mainly be using this for, and I would also want to back up the hard drive so I guess I would need 2 of them or something

Well I'd need to have around 500GB for purely backup purposes. I would also need at least 1TB that I'll be using daily.

Are there cheaper ways of making some sort of external multi-harddrive rigs that will slot internal harddrives in? I guess even 2 slots would work, assuming I could just change the harddrives alot depending if I'm backing something up or using something from a harddrive. If you house harddrives in a server box will they be more reliable then in single external cases?

What you are looking for is a NAS.
Look around at newegg, there probably are some there. Linksys had some good ones, and AFAIK asus is now producing them. It's a great solution, perfect for your needs.

That is gonna be a mission to read but thanks I have never heard of this option, gonna look into this option.

[Cabalo]

shortly, NAS is a networked HDD, something like a router with an HDD (with some differences).
It's pretty useful if you need to have more than 1 PC accessing the same HDD simultaneously. And if you want streaming, it's perfect. You just have to connect the NAS to your home router, and it's accessible everywhere in the LAN, or even remotely if needed to.

[clocker]

For constant use, the NAS option championed by Cabalo is probably the way to go.
I use my caddy frequently but not 24/7.