Best form of media storage?

[Black Box]

I'm trying to decide what storage medium is best to store all my ripped media. I've been reading up on nas raid boxes but the loss of data on non mirrored raid setups worries me and not using maximum hd space on a different raid setup is off putting. would multiple drives by themselves be more reliable or am i just a tad bit too worried about data loss?

 

[Dangman]

I'm trying to decide what storage medium is best to store all my ripped media. I've been reading up on nas raid boxes but the loss of data on non mirrored raid setups worries me and not using maximum hd space on a different raid setup is off putting. would multiple drives by themselves be more reliable or am i just a tad bit too worried about data loss?

AFAIK, multiple drives by themselves are not more reliable than a RAID5 array. For data that you cannot replace or too costly to replace in terms of time and/or money, yes it is a good idea to worry a bit about data loss.

Yes a RAID 5 array does not allow you to use the maximum storage but in return you do get uptime if one of those drives die. However do note that RAID is NOT backup.

Have you taken a look at a Windows Home Server setup? A few options:
$350 - Acer Aspire Easystore H340 Windows Home Server
$500 - HP MediaSmart Server EX475 Windows Home Server

 

[TheResidentEvil]

Multiple drives by themselves is fine however if you are storing the same file twice, then RAID5 is going to actually give you more space. I dont understand your reasoning.

Ripped media is already backed up (sort of). The media itself and the hard drive. Now if you want to back it up again, then there really is no viable reason to not use a RAID array if you have the resources.