How best / faster to create a copy of a large hdd, software?

Question

Backup

There is a separate hdd for important data. Photos, documents, collection of information products, books, music.
I want to buy a second one for a clone, for insurance. It will have an exact copy of hdd on it.
1) How best to copy (clone) faster?
The volume is 2TB so far, I plan to switch to 4TB later on both disks.
As I understand it, it is more optimal to connect two disks via usb and use numerous programs for backup to make cloning. Like Macrium Reflect.
2) And how is it more convenient to replenish the information.? Connect two disks. Or replenish one, and then once every 3 months, again cloning or choose some mode?

Answer 1

1. It is most convenient to take a disk image with an acronis or an equivalent (for example, a free aomei backupper), and then make incremental copies. Then only what has changed will be added. Pretty fast and convenient. As a result, we have files with images that can be simply copied to a second external drive. Such software usually has the ability to execute any commands at the end of the backup, you just need to write a small script to copy to a second external drive, and that's all - just run this task periodically.
The disk for a backup should be connected only for the period of a backup, naturally.
2. Documents are best stored in the cloud, for example, I have all the working files in the dropbox (not including backups on external drives). Then you get a permanent up-to-date backup to the cloud, and even with versioning. A free plan for documents is usually enough. If they are suddenly hellishly secret, you can always use third-party file encryption for the synchronized folder.
3. Media is already more difficult, but they are usually not as important as documents. For media, it is good to use redundant multi-disk NAS, it protects against disk failure (when using RAID) and makes content consumption more convenient. But we must also remember the need for geographic diversification of backups (for obvious reasons).

Answer 2

And why do you need a backup in the same place, a power surge and your disks died
Better which backblaze thread to take, backup anlim cost five bucks a month