Backup from 1 large drive to 4 smaller drives

[gokalex]

Hello,
I have this "problem" I need to backup a large data pool (15TB from my server) to a local backup (I have 4x 4TB hdds)
I would prefer to not RAID 0 the 4 HDDs I have here for fear or losing one drive and having to re download the entire backup instead of just what was lost... (the initial full backup will take around 50days... and then ill just sync the differences)

Is it possible to set up the backup to automatically split the data between multiple destination drives without having to manually select what folders go where?

Thanks.

Alex

[Plerry]

... Is it possible to set up the backup to automatically split the data between multiple destination drives without having to manually select what folders go where?...

This is not supported by FreeFileSync (FFS).
Even if FFS would be able to do so the first time round, it has no means to know what to compare the original to the next time the sync is run.

[gokalex]

So raid 0 it is i guess... or do you know of any other solutions to do this?

[fizpop]

I highly suggest not doing raid 0, unless they will stay in the raid configuration. But even then its not a good idea, especially if its a backup. I dont know the folder structure you have on your server, but lets say you have 10 "main" folders, then you could decide yourself how those folders get distributed, then setup a sync with 4 paths accordingly

[Plerry]

I fully support the advice to not go for Raid0.
Apparently you have a multiple disk housing that would allow all disks to be connected at the same time, otherwise Raid0 would not be possible at all.

Your title suggests 3 smaller drives, your text is respectively about 4x 4TB hdds and 5 HDDs … Confusing!
You may consider to put your (3, 4 or 5) backup disks in a Raid4 configuration, provided that leaves you enough storage space to backup your 12TB. With 4*4TB or 5*4TB that should be possible.
If one disk of the Raid4 set fails, you can replace the defective disk and simply repair the Raid4 set.

Doing what @fizpop suggests is by far the most straight forward, and the only option in case you can only connect one backup disk at the time.

[gokalex]

sorry for number confusion, must have misclicked twice the number... its 4x 4tb drives (ill edit the original post after i write this)

for the folders split it could work but i would need to be careful and keep it updated because in a few months time i could have one drive full and the rest with space left.

i guess buying 1 more drive and doing a raid4 is a good option

[Plerry]

Sorry, it should have read Raid5 instead of Raid4.
Like already suggested: with 4*4TB in Raid5 you have 12TB of storage available, so there is no need to buy an extra disk. The remaining 4TB is used for redundancy, distributed over the 4 disks.

[gokalex]

the server has 15tb of data on it, so i need 1 more...
and i should probably get 2 more anyways if im doing raid because i won't easily be able to add them to the raid later on, right? or is there an easy way to add drives when i need more space?

the initial plan was to just connect them inside my main pc (i have 6 free sata ports) and figure out how to backup to them and add drives when the server passes 16tb and 20tb...

[xCSxXenon]

You should have the server set up in a RAID config with parity for protection before attempting to mirror all of it. Personal opinion of course, but that would be a far safer and easier setup for recovery