Question Remotely access a hard drive

[stefandenic]

Hi.

This might be a common question, but for the love of god I can't solve the issue.

I've built a desktop PC that I plan to equip with two hdds in raid 1 using pcie raid controller. It's windows based, since my father insists on not using anything else (after two years of Ubuntu).

I would like to use the raid array as my storage as well, on a PC at another location. It would be great if it'd be simple listed as if it's an internal drive.

It's dynamic IP address, but I can access it with noip or tplinks ddns. I can add another user to share the drive's read/write permission with. From there I'm stuck with ftp or smbs and ports and which one to open and which one not to.

Any help or pointing at some tutorial would be very welcome.
Thanks,
Stefan

 

[Ralston18]

First: - no RAID of any sort. RAID is not a backup solution, and mostly suited for specific commericial requirements being somewhat cumbersome to create and manage.

Second: - what is "another location"? Is the planned storage (two HDDs) on the same network or across the internet?

Third: - who has the necessary admin rights for the host network's modem, router, or modem/router if combined?

Fourth: - Static IP address for storage devices. Preferably a Static IP address reserved for the host storage device via the device's mac.

Overall more information is needed and RAID should be dropped as a requirement.

 

[stefandenic]

First: - no RAID of any sort. RAID is not a backup solution, and mostly suited for specific commericial requirements being somewhat cumbersome to create and manage.

Second: - what is "another location"? Is the planned storage (two HDDs) on the same network or across the internet?

Third: - who has the necessary admin rights for the host network's modem, router, or modem/router if combined?

Fourth: - Static IP address for storage devices. Preferably a Static IP address reserved for the host storage device via the device's mac.

Overall more information is needed and RAID should be dropped as a requirement.

Thank you for answering.

I am afraid I don't follow the raid issue. I have been using raid for years, just in case a hdd fails. In fact, I've started with raid 10 with 4 hdds years ago and ended with only one drive that's functional, along with all the data.

Another location is another city. It's just two PCs with no commercial usage. One meant to be used as an everyday desktop PC and a safe data storage device. The two hdds are internal, along with a ssd for the os.
I would really like to acces those drives and copy the data from the second PC instead of relying on its internal storage.

The original idea was to use the raid array as a photo backup via photoprism (or similar software) and Plex server for the TV.

I can set the routers any way it's necessary. Static IP - to prevent the connection loss in an event of an IP change?

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"In fact, I've started with raid 10 with 4 hdds years ago and ended with only one drive that's functional, along with all the data."

Data on only one drive?

The first thing that needs to be done is to ensure that all that important data (photos) are backed up to at least two other locations away from current host. Ensure that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Will hold on further comments pending other posts regarding the requirements and the plans being considered.

 

[cruisetung]

As suggested, raid 1 is not a backup. Raid 1 is only for up time. That is, if one drive fails, the other drive just keeps running so there is no down time. It does not prevent data corruption or intentional/unintentional data deletion.

Btw, if you want to read write or access another drive on another PC at a remote location, you should build/establish a vpn first so the drive will looks like it's on the same network/LAN, just a lot slower than a real LAN. The maximum speed is determined by your ISP subscription plan's upload speed.

Start with ZeroTier, no fixed public internet IP address required.

 

[stefandenic]

I don't need the constant availability, but mirroring really came in handy. I haven't had proper raid drives to be honest, just hooked several I had lying around. This time I went with two WD gold drives for their raid capability.

In fact one drive and a raid card are still on the way, it's not too late to change the whole concept. Don't hold commenting, it's helpful.
I guess I could add an external portable drive to keep a copy of the data, another copy would really make sense.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will read into VPN. Maybe windows' built in one could do it.

 

[USAFRet]

RAID only gives continued uptime, in the event of physical drive fail. For instance, if you were running a webstore, and downtime means loss of sales.
It does not protect against accidental deletion, corruption, virus, malware, etc, etc.

Any business that employs a RAID array also needs a real backup.
And if you don't rely on that uptime, then you don;t really need the RAID array.

 

[stefandenic]

RAID only gives continued uptime, in the event of physical drive fail. For instance, if you were running a webstore, and downtime means loss of sales.
It does not protect against accidental deletion, corruption, virus, malware, etc, etc.

Any business that employs a RAID array also needs a real backup.
And if you don't rely on that uptime, then you don;t really need the RAID array.

That leaves me with a large monthly plan for a cloud backup?
It's significantly more expensive for the same amount of storage.
Or an external hard drive that's offline?

 

[USAFRet]

That leaves me with a large monthly plan for a cloud backup?
It's significantly more expensive for the same amount of storage.
Or an external hard drive that's offline?

Any storage location.
Cloud, drive at a friends house, an external....

3-2-1
3 copies, on at least 2 different media, 1 offsite or otherwise unavailable.

My PCs back up to my NAS every night.
Thats 1 & 2.

My 3rd copy is literally a couple of drives in a box in my office at work. Updated quarterly or so.