Hello,

I’m looking for the most cost-effective solution to consolidate all my data and create an actual backup system. Everything is spread out across three WD external HDDs:

• 1x 10TB MyBook
• 2x 4TB Passport

Currently, I am at 99% capacity (16.2/16.35 TB available space) - I can no longer keep playing Tetris with the contents to make them all fit. There are no duplicates or unnecessary files - every week, I routinely trim the fat by deleting anything I don’t plan to keep, moving them into a specific folder. After a month, if they are still in that folder, they get moved to their permanent location.

I thought about buying two new 20TB MyBooks (one for backup, one for consolidation), but then I wouldn’t know what to do with all the old drives when I free up space.

I’ve been thinking about getting a NAS but have no experience hosting a home server. I haven’t really needed one since these drives are always just hooked to my machine.

If you were in my position, what approach would you take to find a solution to this?

Thanks for reading, happy hoarding.