Possible to use a second drive as a backup but not RAID1 real time?

[bapc]

Hi,

I have been reading about RAID0 and 1. It seems the minimal boost in performance is not worth it for me for RAID0 since I would need to purchase like a $400 controller for RAID.

I like the idea of RAID1. From my understanding, a exact duplicate is stored on a second drive. But I don't like the fact that it diminishes performance.

So I was wondering if there is any way to backup an entire drive not in real time like RAID1, but with a click of a button.

Say I get 2x 1TB drives.

Can I transfer one drive to the other in Windows 7? Also, how long would it take?

If there is a better backup solution please advice. I don't mean for files, but everything... the OS etc. So if someone happens I can just boot up from the second drive like nothing happened.

Appreciate any help, thank you.

 

[bapc]

You know, it's always best to read the manual of the motherboard you're interested in getting. Lesson learned.

It seems the Asus P7P55D already has RAID0, RAID1, and even RAID5 support. There's no need for any controller.

I think RAID5 offers both performance of RAID0 and the backup of RAID1. But needs three drives.

Might be worth it.

 

[1haplo]

Windows Volume Shadow copy Service. It might be what you are looking for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Copy

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb968832(VS.85).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738819(WS.10).aspx

 

[bapc]

Interesting, I didn't know Windows has a backup feature. I'm going to look more into that, thanks.

You know RAID0 isn't probably worth it for me, and I was wrong with RAID5, and RAID10 is way too expensive. And after reading about RAID1, it seems that if there is an error the error will just be duplicated so it's not really a backup IMO.

I'm going back to my original strategy to just get two hard drives (either 2x1TB or 2x500GB), one primary for use and the second just to store a backup image I can restore easily if the primary drive fails.

Question is what is a good way to create that back image and how long will it take. Is it quick like a 5 minute process or would it take hours to backup each night?

 

[bapc]

Just read an article that it takes 1 minute per GB. So to copy a system that is around 500GB, it will take 8 hours??

Does that sound accurate?

If so is there any other solution besides that? I don't want to keep the computer running at night either.

 

[bapc]

Is there a software that would do a quick system scan, determine what has been modified, and backup those things only?

I think it would reduce time. Surely there is a way to do a daily backup without waiting 8 hours!

 

[jitpublisher]

There are many backup programs that will do just what you are asking, I personally like Acronis True Image.

One thing you should always remember though, no matter what you have heard, RAID of any kind is not a backup. RAID is for redundancy, not backing up. If you delete a file, it's gone. If you get a virus, it affects all your drives. If you are messing around and you format the array, your files are gone. The only thing RAID offers some protection against is a drive failure. If you are running a server, and a drive fails, the server will continue to operate off the back up drives, but even people who own servers with expensive RAID arrays understand that RAID is the very worst form of backup there is. Drive failure in it's self is only a very small percentage of the reason people lose data.