Raid 5? other disc configurations?

R

runLoganrun

Gawd
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
601
I'm used to having an OS drive, and then a separate storage drive, or drives. I move my My Documents folder to storage disk, and most of the time everything is fine, I've recently had some problems with games though, not saving settings, because they are looking for my documents on drive c, plus some other issues with programs trying to save to c. I thought about giving raid 5 a try since I am putting a new system together, but I really like having the OS on a separate drive, makes doing a clean install of OS much easier. However it would be nice to have one cohesive array, and not have to dick around with the separate storage drive thing.

Should I not be moving My Documents to storage drive? I did this through my documents-> preferences

Is it possible to regain stored data after an OS crash on Raid 5?

How do you reinstall the OS on a raid 5 array, keeping all your stored data?

Any ideas or suggestions on disc configurations?

thx,
rlr
 
I've not booted off RAID 5 in a home pc environment, but have two of our servers at work set up with the whole RAID 5 array as one partition.

Is it possible to regain stored data after an OS crash on Raid 5?
Yes, it should act just like a normal single disk if the OS has crashed and the drives/controller are working fine.

How do you reinstall the OS on a raid 5 array, keeping all your stored data?
Gotta move all the data off the drives you want to use, create the array, install the OS, then move data back on.

Are you storing lots of media in this array?
 
Why complicate a straightforward PC configuration? Wouldn't it be easier and safer to use a manual or automated internal or external backup strategy for data on the OS drive/partition? I especially wouldn't trust a cheap, motherboard-based RAID array to contain the OS itself.
 
hardBBQ said:
Why complicate a straightforward PC configuration? Wouldn't it be easier and safer to use a manual or automated internal or external backup strategy for data on the OS drive/partition? I especially wouldn't trust a cheap, motherboard-based RAID array to contain the OS itself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was thinking I'd do raid 1 with two storage drives, then keep my os separate, and maybe back that up too.

Can raid 1 be done if the drives are partitioned?
 
Yes, the drives will partitioned at the same time when you set them up - both in real time. hardBBQ was on a better track though, a real backup strategy would be better. RAID 1 is not a backup strategy.
 
[LYL]Homer;1032511445 said:
Yes, the drives will partitioned at the same time when you set them up - both in real time. hardBBQ was on a better track though, a real backup strategy would be better. RAID 1 is not a backup strategy.
Click to expand...

Why isn't raid one a backup strategy, what's the difference between that and having a drive that I frequently backup to another drive?

thx
 
Because if you get a virus on one drive with RAID 1, well it's already on both drives, and everything gets wiped out. Or if your home is broken into and your computer is stolen. A backup strategy implies that the copied data is offline and off-site, and can't be accessed to be screwed up if the primary data gets hosed.

RAID 1 only covers you in the event of a hard drive failure.

Backup strategies could be:

1. An external backup drive that is switched on, data backed up, and drive is then turned off. (Though this is not off-site)
2. A tape backup system on automated software (or something like an Iomega Rev with 'hard drive cartiridges') with rotation of tapes off-site
3. An internet based backup system, something like http://mozy.com/home , 2gb free.

Further, a true backup strategy protects your data from physical damage via fire, water, theft, etc. #3 above covers this since it is off-site. At work here we use setup #2 with a rotation of tapes and our office manager takes the latest tape home each night so that if the office burns down then we have all of our data minus one work day. #1 above potentially protects you from a virus and hardware failure, but not physical theft or something like a fire.

Of course the next step, in the event of a loss, is to get the data accessible. Many forget about this part.

More reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
 
What I do is have OS/Games/Programs on my RAID0 or a single disk depending on what computer of mine I am using and then have data on a RAID5. I don't really care where my game saves and such goes just as long as I keep my files separate from everything else, which is what I feel you are trying to do.

I don't recommend booting off RAID5 or running apps from it, it is slow, even with a hardware raid controller.
 
I run the OS off the raid 5 and it is not a problem, in fact its great. Auto recovered from many OS crashes due to over exuberiant overclocking experiments.

With XP you do a "repair install" if somehow the OS gets corrupted, I have had to do it once. Vista - well, you are on your own there, dont know.

WTH you doing that would require a "clean install" after the first one anyway?
eh, your business.

Lots of BS here and some good, Raid is NOT a backup stragety, its (raid 1 and 5 anyway) some protection against HD failure. Had my say, try it. The standalone disk in my sig is my backup media.
 
[LYL]Homer;

Backup strategies could be:

1. An external backup drive that is switched on, data backed up, and drive is then turned off. (Though this is not off-site)

My second option was going to be a second internal drive that I back up my storage to, my new p5e will not have external hdd connectors (pretty sure), so don't know that I'd want to use a usb backup drive, maybe.... Is the thought here though that a virus could still infect the drive if it stayed connected to the computer?

2. A tape backup system on automated software (or something like an Iomega Rev with 'hard drive cartiridges') with rotation of tapes off-site

Not that I want to lose my data, but I don't think I need quite that level of protection.

3. An internet based backup system, something like http://mozy.com/home , 2gb free.

This looks worth looking into....

Further, a true backup strategy protects your data from physical damage via fire, water, theft, etc. #3 above covers this since it is off-site. At work here we use setup #2 with a rotation of tapes and our office manager takes the latest tape home each night so that if the office burns down then we have all of our data minus one work day. #1 above potentially protects you from a virus and hardware failure, but not physical theft or something like a fire.

Having raid 1 w/ another backup seems kind of pointless since you already have a backup.
 
BillParrish; I run the OS off the raid 5 and it is not a problem, in fact its great. Auto recovered from many OS crashes due to over exuberiant overclocking experiments.

With XP you do a "repair install" if somehow the OS gets corrupted, I have had to do it once. Vista - well, you are on your own there, dont know.

WTH you doing that would require a "clean install" after the first one anyway?
eh, your business.

For example, I've changed OS's and needed to reinstall, or I've reinstalled a corrupted version of an OS

Lots of BS here and some good, Raid is NOT a backup stragety, its (raid 1 and 5 anyway) some protection against HD failure. Had my say, try it. The standalone disk in my sig is my backup media.

Is the standalone disc backing up data that is on your raid array, or is it storage, and then how do you back that up?
 
runLoganrun said:
[LYL]Homer;

Backup strategies could be:

1. An external backup drive that is switched on, data backed up, and drive is then turned off. (Though this is not off-site)

My second option was going to be a second internal drive that I back up my storage to, my new p5e will not have external hdd connectors (pretty sure), so don't know that I'd want to use a usb backup drive, maybe.... Is the thought here though that a virus could still infect the drive if it stayed connected to the computer?

Having raid 1 w/ another backup seems kind of pointless since you already have a backup.
Click to expand...

Yes, a virus most likely. But it could also be a power issue, like a surge.

I'll say it again - RAID1 is not a backup. It only means redundant data. If your redundant data is borked, then all of it is borked - both copies. Motherboard failure, controller failure, virus all could still ruin your data - RAID 1 only covers you against a single drive failure, but that does happen now and then so it's better than nothing but it's not a backup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top