Question about raid 1

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Obiwanshinobi900

Limp Gawd
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Aug 1, 2007
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330
How reliable is raid 1?
Is raid 1 a safe backup system?
For instance could I just do raid 1 with two hard drives and forget about backing it up?
Do you have to reformat a drive to put it into raid 1?
I have a nearly full 750gb that I would like to backup, would I have to format it in order to put it into raid 1 with another 750gb?
 
No level of Raid is a replacement for a separate backup of your data!

None!

Ever!

I aint kidding!

I run Raid 1 on the Nas box on my system, and I make backups to 2 separate external hard drives.

Raid provides zero protection from virus issues, accidental deletion, controller failure, power problems, lightning, or just plain bad luck. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Don
 
yep.. i agree.. im a raid-nut... but i still back everything up to blank dvds (all databased / unique)
 
Obiwanshinobi900 said:
How easy is it to backup to those externals? Do you have some sort of mirroring program??
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you want to do scheduled backups... having it permanently attached to the system represents the same data-loss issues as the original raid1.. ie virus..
 
DonDon said:
controller failure
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i think in most cases you can replace the controller (with the same type) and recover your data/ continue running those drives business as normal.. but the rest yeah.. badd bad bad bad things happen to data.
 
You're all scaring me. What can I do to prevent a loss of roughly ~700gb of data? right now all I have is 1x samsung f1 750gb.
 
Obiwanshinobi900 said:
You're all scaring me. What can I do to prevent a loss of roughly ~700gb of data? right now all I have is 1x samsung f1 750gb.
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well raid1 is a good start... raid realy does eliminate a lot of the urgency of backup... but not its necessity.. run a raid1 mirror, plus either get a third hdd (of equal size to the raid volume) to use for backups... but keep it unplugged when not in use.. or what i do is i catalogue/database everything i need to backup and backup to DVD-R..

it all matters on exactly how important is that data to you, if you could live without it but you'd rather not lose it raid1 should be fine, as long as u have:-
- have a decent brand/model PSU
- decent system protection and are a cautious user (regarding internet/system security).
- willing to at least backup the most important stuff to dvd/another hdd
still this guarantees nothing but is still a good start..

but if you cannot live without this data it is imperative that you think of external / removable storage for backup
 
gaspah said:
but if you cannot live without this data it is imperative that you think of external / removable storage for backup
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QFT!!!

if you happen to piss of your significant other and they press "delete all" you still loose with raid.
 
Hard drives today and many times more reliable than they were 10 or 20 years ago. But they are still the highest fail item in a computer. It's just that in the past, they were REALLY high failure.

With Raid1, you are fairly save, but not completely covered.

With 1 external backup drive, you are much safer, but not completely out of the woods. With only one backup copy, you are writing over your last good backup every time you make a new one. If you discover a problem in the middle of the backup, which has happened to me, your data could be in danger.

To be very safe, you need 2 copies of the backup data, and rotate them when you do your backups. That way if things go to hell in the middle of the backup, you still have a third copy of the data that should still be ok.

I use Syncback SE to backup from my NAS to my external drives.

Don
 
Megalomaniac said:
QFT!!!

if you happen to piss of your significant other and they press "delete all" you still loose with raid.
Click to expand...
ouch that would suck :eek:

eventually i'd like to get all my stuff backed up and placed onto harddrives i'd keep in a safety deposit box. heavily insured of course ;)
 
DonDon said:
Hard drives today and many times more reliable than they were 10 or 20 years ago. But they are still the highest fail item in a computer. It's just that in the past, they were REALLY high failure.

With Raid1, you are fairly save, but not completely covered.

With 1 external backup drive, you are much safer, but not completely out of the woods. With only one backup copy, you are writing over your last good backup every time you make a new one. If you discover a problem in the middle of the backup, which has happened to me, your data could be in danger.

To be very safe, you need 2 copies of the backup data, and rotate them when you do your backups. That way if things go to hell in the middle of the backup, you still have a third copy of the data that should still be ok.

I use Syncback SE to backup from my NAS to my external drives.

Don
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i recommend copying all the data, not cut and paste. if the copied data works fine on the backup, then delete from the original drive :)
 
matrix563 said:
ouch that would suck :eek:

eventually i'd like to get all my stuff backed up and placed onto harddrives i'd keep in a safety deposit box. heavily insured of course ;)
Click to expand...

sorry, banks dont ensure pr0n collections :eek:

matrix563 said:
i recommend copying all the data, not cut and paste. if the copied data works fine on the backup, then delete from the original drive :)
Click to expand...

agreed.
but arguably, copying from HD to HD is less error prone than backing up to a CD/DVD

disclaimer: if you dont know the hazards of a bad burn, you might or might not want to visit the cdfreaks.com forums to see how your media stands up. i now have only one dedicated brand i use for real serious stuff.
 
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