Just had a major crash on hard drive #1: 1700+ rips of every CD and HD download. My family is first for sure, but my music!! It could have been devastating. Luckily I have a two drive back up system. One internal and one external to my tower. I only lost one recent rip. Everything else was backed up. Took 10 minutes to get back to streaming music to my DS through the Bridge II. Not even an impact on my precious Friday night listening session!! Another 3Tb Western Digital black will be at my house tomorrow thanks to Amazon.
Oh yes, backups indeed. I also suggest an off-site backup, at the office or a friend’s house or a safe deposit box. I have two external drives, one of which lives in the safe deposit box. I swap them every couple of months; if a fire or lightning strike took out my in-house backups, at least I would have all but the most recent music files, photos, etc.
Backups indeed! I have two backups locally in the house, and one in a separate building. On top of that, I use Backblaze for an online offsite backup service. Worth every penny. It only took 2 or three hard disk crashes to teach me. 
I prefer backing up hard drives onto BD-Rs. No trust in hard drives, even when just sitting on a shelf.
You are a patient, disciplined soul.
Unfortunately, all media is subject to degradation and mechanical failure. Thus, many perform more than one back-up.
We are spoiled in any event. Before digital, we had one vinyl copy and one copy (and perhaps the negative) of a photo, etc.
radioclash said I prefer backing up hard drives onto BD-Rs. No trust in hard drives, even when just sitting on a shelf.You have more patience than I do.
Elk said You are a patient, disciplined soul.Unfortunately, all media is subject to degradation and mechanical failure. Thus, many perform more than one back-up.
We are spoiled in any event. Before digital, we had one vinyl copy and one copy (and perhaps the negative) of a photo, etc.
Agreed we are spoiled elk, but we also have more at risk. I am old enough to remember the common checkbook my parents kept, the savings passbook, etc. What’s that line: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Too many people take for granted the power the modern age confers—instant cash, instant maps [heck, sometimes I take a drive without the GPS just to get lost], instant phones & access [anyone remember party lines?], and millions of music tracks and video instantly available. Still amazing to me how many tears, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth I hear when someone’s laptop crashes. Backup is so easy, it’s almost a crime not to be backed up.
I have been in IT since the early 90’s and always backup. My main hobby is photography and music, so I would freak if I lost anything. Currently I have a NAS RAID box and a HD cradle. I use WD Black HD’s in the cradle and keep one backup in my fire safe and one off site and rotate between the two. So at any given time I have a set on my computer, NAS, Fire safe and off site.
If I loose all four, then my main concern would be food, shelter and water…and maybe zombies.
palerider said Agreed we are spoiled elk, but we also have more at risk.I do not think we have any more at risk. We had music, photos, important documents - they just were not digital. It is much easier to make copies and back them up now.
Still amazing to me how many tears, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth I hear when someone's laptop crashes. Backup is so easy, it's almost a crime not to be backed up.Absolutely.