Build a Backup Server for Media Preservation

This is my first GoFundMe ever, please be gentle.

I am an independent media archivist saving obscure and lost media on vinyl, cassette, VHS, and especially sound filmstrip, an old educational slideshow-like format on 35mm film. I have more than a thousand items uploaded to archive.org, with several thousand left to digitize. However, I am not connected to a university like most archivists and therefore don't have an unlimited budget.

Backups are super important to a project like this, and recently one of my backup destinations, Google Drive, set up a storage limit that is way too low for my needs. They did this suddenly and without warning. On July 10, 2023 I will lose all my backups there if I don't do something.

I'm pretty good with reusing old computers and I have no doubt I can build a backup server to replace Google Drive with parts on hand, but the issue is I need new hard drives to do this. Old drives aren't big enough, and their age makes them unsuitable for safe storage of data. I also want spares on hand so I can replace drives in the event one fails.

Disks will be configured into a RAID6 array as this is the sweet spot between reliability and cost. If I make my goal I will be buying 8TB WD Red NAS drives. If I exceed my goal, other options may be available to me, but every cent I recieve will be put back into archiving unusual and lost media.

Thank you for reading! I hope we can work together to preserve historical and ephemeral media.