Drive recommendations for a RAID 1 array (software) for storage in main rig?

Hey all,

In my gaming/main rig I currently have 2x1TB Samsung drives from 2012-ish. I started getting warning that the array is at risk. Therefore, I want to backup the data and buy two new drives to replace them with. I will still use a RAID 1 config using Intel RST. The primary use of the array is to store random data files (documents, saved downloadable apps, music, pictures, etc). The MAIN use is storing all of my RAW images from my DSLR as it runs my Lightroom library for photo editing.

With that said, I've narrowed the drives down to the following - Which would you go with?

Seagate FireCuda 2TB x2
Toshiba X300 4TB x2
Seagate Ironwolf 4TB x2
WD Red 4TB x2

I'm looking to stay <= $100 per drive. The 4TB nas drives are a little above it but I can deal with it. The PC is on nearly 24/7 unless I know I won't be around for a few days, then I'll shut her down.

Open to suggestions!

Thank you in advance!

First, my assumptions:

• I'm assuming you do not boot to this array.
• 2 TB is enough storage to meet your needs. I put this here because you listed three pairs of 4TB drives, but also a pair of 2TB drives.
• Performance is not a primary concern beyond a basic level of functionality.

Impressions of the drives you chose:

• The SSHDs (the FireCuda) don't play nice with RAID. RAID 1 would probably be fine, since it's more natural drive behavior than something like RAID 5, but I'd still avoid it because you don't appear to need the performance. They do have 5 year warranties and should be quick, but at $100 each they're expensive relative to their capacity.
• The Toshiba X300 is a 7200 RPM drive and is probably pretty nice. However, Toshiba's RMA process is absolute ballsacks, and these drives are somewhat more expensive than others, since I show the price around $135.
• Both the IronWolf and WD Red drives are 5400/5900 RPM, and they're NAS-class. I don't buy into all the special NAS features, but it means they come with 3 year warranties, which is nice. They're around $125.

Based on all that, I would recommend none of your chosen drives, and instead recommend one of these two options:

1. If you want 4TB of space, get 2x HGST 4TB NAS drives. They're the same price as the IronWolf and WD Red at $125, but they're 7200 RPM. They also don't have the bullshit warranty process that Toshiba has.
2. If you're happy with 2TB of total space, save the cash versus the FireCuda and get 2x Toshiba P300 2TB drives. They're 7200 RPM and have 2 year warranties, though you'd have to deal with Toshiba's shit if you ever used the warranty. They're inexpensive at $58 though.

You could also consider moving beyond RAID 1 to R5 or R6, or into a pure software solution like DrivePool that eschews RAID entirely.

Lastly, and this can never be said enough so I'll say it here - no form of RAID counts as a backup. More important than having a mirrored copy of your data is having an offline copy of your data. RAID 1 protects you against exactly one thing- the failure of a drive. It doesn't help in the case of user error accidentally deleting picture, or malware that encrypts your shit, or any of another hundred scenarios. By all means, keep a RAID 1, but get something in addition to it, like a Backblaze account for off-site backup, or at a minimum a separate storage location to perform weekly backups. In my case, all the 'important stuff' on every PC in my house gets copied weekly to other PCs in my house that are in physically separate locations, and then all of it gets backed up via Backblaze and goes off site. This protects me from a whole bunch of different scenarios that RAID wouldn't help with.

*edit*
I should say, I don't know if you've got some other form of backup. If you do, YAY and you can ignore my whole last paragraph. I mostly wanted to write that for anyone else that reads this; RAID is *never* to be confused with backup!

sinisterDei, thank you for the info. Sorry I went MIA for a little bit, life's been crazy! I do definitely have the drives backed up on an External. I am in the process of getting a dedicated drive for my server to be my machine backups over the net. I will say, though, I do NOT have an offsite backup and probably should. I'll definitely look into that.

Thank you for the drive recommendations. I'm taking a peek. I'm just toping out my 1TB now, so yes, 2TB is probably ok, but part of me was looking to not have to do this again for at least the life of the new drives! Performance is not a huge deal. The main ruling here is the drive stores photos that I edit in lightroom (hobbyist-photographer). As long as it can keep up with that, I'm ok with it!

Oddly ehough, I do use Drive pool for my server. Never thought about using it for my storage as well. Maybe I'll look at that with folder duplication versus RAID. Thanks for the suggestion!