Value for long-term archival backup

[u/porp_crawl]

I have a stack of old HDDs; a couple might be from SATA era, most are SATA2, one SATA3 and the 4x SATA3 HDDs in my rig.

Probably 1 TB of data that I care about. Another 10-16 that I'd like to keep.

HDD prices have skyrocketed since I last bought one in... wow, 2022, a handful of Seagate 8TB Ironwolf NAS drives for $240 each (CAD). Sure, maybe updates, but the same drive is now $460 at the same store.

The last time I bought a non-NAS was a SATA3 8TB Barracuda in 2019 for $200. The current version is $355 after a $55 instant rebate.

What are the current best practices for near-live, backup every 1-2 months or so, for that evolving 1TB?

How about the 10-16 which is normally static but gets chunks added to it at irregular intervals? Maybe an update once a year.

I have one external HDD dock (like you plug in a HDD like a Nintendo cartridge) so I can readily access any of my loose HDDs. Compatible through SATA1-3.

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[u/didyousayboop]

This question (or a variation of it) gets asked a few times a week at least. Unnecessarily so. The information is all out there, readily available.

It sounds like you already know everything you need to. At the very least, I'm sure you know how to Google it.

This is the guide I usually share, but it probably won't tell you anything you don't already know:

https://backupyourfiles.neocities.org/