Raid Questions

[greyghost]

I know raid is a popular alterernative storage method, but I have simple questions that seem like it should be trivial to those in the know . . . .

When mirroring, if the source drive goes corrupt, and a backup is created of the source drive, is data lost on the destination drive?

In the event of a failure, can the mirrored drive be accessed like a standard drive in order to retrieve the lost information? What is the retrieval process?

Also, is the raid better setup from the OS, Bios, or raid specific drives?

Also, I have never played with raid before, right now my OS of choice is debatable (mac is my primary machine, but a windows/linux box will be my file server that streams to my 360 which is also the machine that may be eligible for the raid upgrade)
My OS options for my fileserver are XP Pro, Vista HP, WHS, Win7 or ubuntu- which I prefer to not have to take time out to learn at this point. I would love to make it an OSX box, but the legalities are something I wish not to deal with.

 

[nitrobass24]

Well for the sake of the poll I chose BIOS due to the fact that if you run a Raid1 for the boot partition I would rather have it be fakeraid over software raid.

Also with BIOS raid you are not dependent on the OS, as you can have a R1 setup to dual, triple boot to multiple OS's.

If a drive fails the OS doesn't really know, because the other drive is an exact mirror.
RAID is NOT A BACKUP, it will give you uptime only in the case of a drive failure.
If you get a virus or some sort of corruption it will happen to both drives.

If you have sensitive or irreplaceable data I suggest you use an external or online backup and backup regularly.

 

[Drudenhaus]

Software RAID is portable so I'd take that any day over fakeraid. Additionally, linux support for fakeraid is total crap. Of course, hardware RAID is #1 on my list, but not yours.

 

[nitrobass24]

Additionally, linux support for fakeraid is total crap.

Yes but 4 of the 5 OS's he listed are not linux, and windows cannot be installed on its own OS-based array.

 

[Drudenhaus]

Yes but 4 of the 5 OS's he listed are not linux, and windows cannot be installed on its own OS-based array.

True, however I would never recommend usage of fakeraid and I'm not about to start.

 

[ochadd]

I know raid is a popular alterernative storage method, but I have simple questions that seem like it should be trivial to those in the know . . . .

When mirroring, if the source drive goes corrupt, and a backup is created of the source drive, is data lost on the destination drive?

Mirrored drives eliminate data loss if you have a hard drive failure. If the data is corrupted by software, virus, human error, etc, you will get it on both drives.

In the event of a failure, can the mirrored drive be accessed like a standard drive in order to retrieve the lost information? What is the retrieval process?

Yes. Shutdown, unplug the failed drive, may need to reconfigure bios from RAID to stand-alone drive setup, boot up. Normally it would seem business as usual but, Intel matrix raid or nvidia equivelent or Windows, would throw you errors stating something about not being protected.

Also, is the raid better setup from the OS, Bios, or raid specific drives?

Both software and fake RAID has worked for me. You're forced into the bios option if you are planning to load Windows on it.

Also, I have never played with raid before, right now my OS of choice is debatable (mac is my primary machine, but a windows/linux box will be my file server that streams to my 360 which is also the machine that may be eligible for the raid upgrade)
My OS options for my fileserver are XP Pro, Vista HP, WHS, Win7 or ubuntu- which I prefer to not have to take time out to learn at this point. I would love to make it an OSX box, but the legalities are something I wish not to deal with.


Linux is free and setting it up as a file server is extremely easy. There really isn't much to learn as you follow any online walkthrough step by step to get it installed and show you how to arrange backups. If it's important data I can't recommend hosting it on anything but an OS you are completely comfortable with. Learning the basics of linux should be required for any geek worth his salt Has saved me many dollars compared to alternative Microsoft licensing

http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu-home-fileserver

 

[greyghost]

If you have sensitive or irreplaceable data I suggest you use an external or online backup and backup regularly.

I am glad i asked for everyone opinions, it looks as I would have been disappointed with raid as this would not be the solution to my problem.
Thanks everybody.

 

[Lazn_Work]

I am glad i asked for everyone opinions, it looks as I would have been disappointed with raid as this would not be the solution to my problem.
Thanks everybody.

Looks like you figured it out..

RAID is not backup. RAID is to keep your system running (uptime) in the event of a hard drive failure, it is not a means to data security.

(we could get into performance discussions but you seem to be interested in data security discussions)

For Data Security, if you have a broadband connection and don't pay per bit for internet use, a online site like Mozy, Carbonite, IDrive etc. (or if your needs are small enough skydrive) are really the best option for most users.

 

[FromTheLou]

Looks like you figured it out..

RAID is not backup. RAID is to keep your system running (uptime) in the event of a hard drive failure, it is not a means to data security.

(we could get into performance discussions but you seem to be interested in data security discussions)

For Data Security, if you have a broadband connection and don't pay per bit for internet use, a online site like Mozy, Carbonite, IDrive etc. (or if your needs are small enough skydrive) are really the best option for most users.

I'd scratch Carbonite off the list. My main problem is that they purposely automatically disallow certain file types to be backed up.

It can be a pain to remember to "force" certain file types to back up.

And here is the list of unsupported auto back up file types:

Carbonite backs up all files except for:




1.System files such as .EXE and .DLL files (an exhaustive list of these extensions is available upon request)

2.Files in known system and temporary folders such as the C:\Windows folder

3.Files contained in hidden system folders (a.k.a super-hidden folders)

4.Files which are over 4GB in size (however, you can individually add large files to your backup by right-clicking on them and selecting 'Back this up')

5.Video files (but you can add video files to your backup by right-clicking on them and selecting 'Back this up', or right-clicking on a folder and selecting 'Back up Video files in this folder')

6.Files on non-permanent disk drives (e.g., network and removable USB drives) unless otherwise noted as a feature in your Carbonite product.

Go with Mozy, that is who I'm going with after my Carbonite subscription is over.

 

[greyghost]

Data protection is the #1 priority.

Everyone has different 'levels' of protection requirements. Fortunately for me, the most important to back up is those irreplaceable pictures of the kids growing up, which doesn't require much space ~6gb. Atleast it is not a hard to manage +100gb. For that, an online storage solution seems to be the best option for protection.
All the other files, would be difficult to replace, but not impossible. Just many hard hours of work that I would prefer to not to lose.

Mozy sounds like something worth checking out


Thanks again

 

[Pocatello]

The horse in italics is winning!

What is my prize?

 

[greyghost]

Just thought I would add that a WD elements 1tb and acronis true image was the winning combo -