RAID 1 external drives

[Jackson_259]

I want to set up a raid array for redundancy but i would also like to be able to take 1 of the drives and work from my laptop

Is this possible? I have never had anything to do with raid arrays so i really have no idea any help would be appreciated

Thanks!

 

[kanewolf]

Breaking a mirror (removing 1 drive from a mirrored pair) is a bad thing. You would not want to rake one RAID drive update it and then try to re-sync the mirror. Your "new" data might or might not survive.

 

[ss202sl]

You'd be better off using one for data, and backing up to the other one. Just make sure you update the backup regularly.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Breaking a mirror (removing 1 drive from a mirrored pair) is a bad thing. You would not want to rake one RAID drive update it and then try to re-sync the mirror. Your "new" data might or might not survive.

Just wanted to echo this. Removing and resynching is not how RAID is meant to work. The drives should always be left in place and only removed/replaced if one fails.

 

[Jackson_259]

Could i get software to do auto backups?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Could i get software to do auto backups?

Depends how you want your backup to work. Windows 10 has an Automatic backup feature built in. Unless you want to share files between computers, then you should consider a cloud like Google Drive

 

[Jackson_259]

Ill explain my situation a little better

Im a graphic designer i mostly make motocross graphics but do some sign writing

My desktop pc is where i do most of my design work and i have an external drive that stays on that pc which is shared with the pc that runs my printer

Because i race motocross i am away from home a fair bit so i take my hard drive away with me and work on my laptop

So my ideal situation would be to have two drives conected to my desktop pc that both have the same data so i can take one away with me but i also have a drive to stay conected to my desktop pc so it can be shared to my print pc so things can be printed when im not home

And having a backup of all my work is a pretty big bonus to doing all this

 

[Rogue Leader]

The easiest way to do this is to use a cloud sync like Google drive for the files you want to print at home when you are away. Copy the file to google drive and then remotely access your PC to print it from there.

Now as for keeping them in sync when home, you can use this:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

While I haven't used Synctoy before, its possible this can even sync over the internet, which means you could keep stuff in sync remotely, and then you don't even need to use google drive.

 

[Jackson_259]

I dont really need to remotely access my pc because there will be someone at my house to print stuff if im away and i need it to be printed so all i really need is to have to 2 drives synced so i can take one and leave the other one so work i have finished can be printed while im not there

 

[Jackson_259]

Thanks everyone for their help!

 

[Rogue Leader]

I dont really need to remotely access my pc because there will be someone at my house to print stuff if im away and i need it to be printed so all i really need is to have to 2 drives synced so i can take one and leave the other one so work i have finished can be printed while im not there

Yeah Synctoy is probably the way to go then.