Part of a drive as Raid 1, is this possible?

[uptown47]

Hi,

I've just ordered a buffalo pro duo 6tb nas.

It has 2x3tb drives. I want to use the raid 1 feature to backup things like my photos and important files but I only need about 750gb for this.

My question is whether it is possible to configure the device so that 1tb is raid 1 and the rest of the 4tb is just a normal drive?

Does anyone know if this is possible?

Many thanks

John 🙂

 

[JeauxBleaux]

It depends on the RAID controller as to whether or not you can "splice" an array. I believe you cannot in this particular box.

You're better off posting this question in Buffalo's forum here -> http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Storage/bd-p/0101

 

[rusabus]

I just looked at the manual for your NAS and there is no indication that what you want to do is possible with this box. It looks like RAID 1 is an all-or-nothing option.

While I'm sure they exist, I don't know of any particular low-cost NAS that offers this functionality. You could build your own NAS using a motherboard that supported multiple RAID levels on the same drives. Intel's RAID controllers support this. However, it would be more expensive than an appliance like the one you've purchased.

Best regards,

--Russel

 

[uptown47]

Thank you for your replies. I'll maybe have to use it as storage and get another solution for raid. Thanks again.

John 🙂

 

[millwright]

Do you need a RAID1?

It is more for a business that need to be back up immediately.

Wrights are slower, and data corrupting is more of a issue than a strait backup, it wrights to both disks, every time.

 

[J_E_D_70]

^ this plus be aware raid 1 is NOT a backup in any way shape or form. It's about trying for better availability in case of a failure but you'll still need another drive to act as the backup of the raid array.

If you perma-delete a photo in raid 1, it's still gone - unless you have it on your backup drive.

 

[uptown47]

I just want to be able to add photos to a folder and have them automatically copied to another drive so if the first drive gets corrupted then I haven't lost them all. I was under the impression that raid 1 did that?

 

[J_E_D_70]

Sometimes. It's also possible the entire array can become corrupted.

It's always best to have an external drive in case of a power surge. But, it may be possible to use Acronis or Easus Todo (or whatever the NAS comes with) to schedule automatic backups from one drive in the enclosure to another.

 

[uptown47]

I'll have to do a bit more reading on this then. I thought that when in raid 1 everything copied to one drive automatically gets mirrored to another one?

It's just really photos, some music, some important docs etc that I want backing up.

If I just copy the folder into 2 places then they get out of synch when one folder changes. This is what I was hoping that raid 1 would solve?

Thank you for your continued support and apologies for my cluelessness... 🙂

 

[JeauxBleaux]

Good reading for you -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#RAID_1

RAID 1 is strictly a redundancy scheme, not a backup scheme. There is a huge difference.
For instance, if your OS or controller starts writing bad data to the primary drive and destroys it in the process, that same bad data will be written to the mirror. A backup, on the other hand, is a selective or automatic process to a separate drive (preferably on a separate controller) that backs up your data.

 

[uptown47]

JB, thanks for the link and the explanation. Much appreciated. I'll maybe just use the pro duo as just 6tb nas and look into a software solution for synching important folders?
🙂