Need suggestions to rebuild a file server with backup

[Patramix]

hello everyone.

i need some advice.

i currently have a small home made server (AMD Athlon II X4 640 Quad Core, 4gig rams), with 8TB(2x1tb 3x2tb) with about 60% of it used up. it is used as a media server(and folder) to stream movies and shows to my TV's (mostly via the 2 360's and PS3), and as a file server for the 5 pc's in the house.

my problem is, only 5% of it is backed up, the drives are not in raid or anything, and if 1 of the 3 2tb drives goes i will lose allllot of data.

i want to add redundancy(like raid 5 or 6) or some form of complete backup(not happening with my budget of under 400$ with taxes). i was looking at getting a 4bay Drobo (300$ right now on ncix) unit and slaping in 4 2tb drives, witch would give me almost 6tb of space with redundancy incase 1 drives fails, this option would be easyest of way of doing this.

i have never done any kind of mass raid 5/6 array, and don't have the money for much atm and can only use my current HDD`s that i have, 4 2tb WD green ears drives, witch is why the drobo seemed as a good option.

I wanted to know if you guys had any alternatives or better solutions (i can always salvage a 5th 2tb ears drive from one of my other pc`s to get 5)

i currently need 5-8 TB of usable space (the 4 bay drobo would give me around 5.5tb lower limit but would last me long enough to get more cash for something bigger)

i am just unsure what direction to go towards, there are several NAS unit out there, 4/5 Bays that could also work.

any special suggestion or tips i could use?
Thanks
Pat

[frontier204]

If lowfat doesn't ninja me, let me say that RAID is not backup. If software glitches and eats some data on your array, the glitch is copied to the whole array and you lose data. Also a power surge can take out your drives in one shot. My preference is to have a backup drive that normally remains UNPLUGGED from the machine you are backing up. You can do this either with a NAS or hot swappable drives.

My current solution is that my home server has NO RAID, but I have another 1.5 TB drive that I plug in and run a backup once a month. Therefore if the rig fries or the software eats the data, the most I lose is a month of data. For stuff that I update more frequently than once a month, I have it stored at two places simultaneously (main rig + home server, or USB key + computer).

If you want to be even more paranoid you can go with off-site storage, but that would cost a lot for TBs of data.

[Patramix]

i know its not a back up per say, but does have some form of redundancy witch i currently don't have.

i have 2TB of stuff ATM on the server, plus about 2 more on the 5pc's and i got about 2 more that i would like to add. but loosing a single 2tb drive would put me back a months of work(ripping my entire dvd/Bd takes a long long time)

basically i want some form of redundancy in case 1 drive does go bad. so i don't lose the data in a split second i could just buy 5 more 2tb drives, but hell i already ran out of sata ports and would require extra power and time to set up to image every drive, witch is where a NAS/drobo would come in handy, just rebuild and less data loss(in theory) if 1 of the drives fails.