The right online storage solution is a lot like having a good archive process in place. You need to protect yourself with a RAID or some kind of backup so that if you have a problem with your computer, your media files are protected.

Online storage vs. Offline storage

Think of these two as close relatives. Offline storage is the archive process we talked about before. Online storage is the location you keep the files you are currently working on. Both of these need some sort of backup, because we don’t have tapes anymore.

The Answer: RAID storage

RAID has customarily been a very difficult and inherently complicated thing to setup. A lot of computers now come with utilities that make the process much easier, but there is one tool that we have been using at our office and absolutely love.

It shares the same characteristics of a RAID in which a drive (or two) can fail and the entirety of the data stored on the system remains intact.

It departs drastically from a traditional RAID in that you can add storage to it at any time and you don’t have to reformat the entire system.

It literally is plug and play.

It’s the Drobo

Data Robotics has come up with a hard drive enclosure that can accept multiple SATA hard drives and add them to its storage array without any interaction from the user. It takes a few minutes to set it up initially, but after that, the Drobo sits in the background with little need for attention except to store and retrieve files.

It works with Macs and PCs through Firewire, USB and some of the models have Ethernet as well.

Since we converted to a tapeless workflow in January of 2009, we have been using this system for our online storage and love it. We have had zero issues with it along the way. You can pick one up for yourself at Amazon, just click here. We get a small commission if you choose to purchase, but I would use the Drobo regardless.

The key is redundancy

If the Drobo is not to your liking, just make sure you have redundant storage of your depositions somewhere. Don’t make your weakest link in the chain a single hard drive when it is so easy to avoid.