2 TB external HD does not mount any more. How to save it's data?

[basroufs at gmail.com]

This approach makes sense to me.
> I have a similar vulnerability, since my backups are all to large external
> drives.  They are connected only when actively backing up, so they last a
> long time, but nothing is forever.
> 
> My protection is that there are several of them, and I use them in
> rotation.  That way, if one goes dead I still have newer or older backups.
> If one goes flakey, I have a place to copy its data.

Until half a year ago, I used to have 3 external HD's - however, 1 is dysfunctional now, a 2nd one 
also starts to show first little signs of decay, a 3rd, newer one I recently lost. 

Soon, I can buy 1 new external HD, a 2nd one within a few weeks.  Later on I can purchase an 
extra storage device every 2 months or so. How many of them do I need all together in order to 
safely 'rotate' explained in the way above?


> I use these drives, and home-brewed Linux scripts, even on my Windows
> machines.  This has the advantage that the toolchain is all open-source,
> and I know what I've got and the format is never going to become obsolete.

Do you format a new external HD into ext4 or do you keep using it's existing ntfs format? 

Can you explain a bit more about those 'home-brewed Linux scripts'? Are they similar to e.g. 
'Luckybackup'?
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