Question Raid 1 Question - Is it really JBOD?

[Oasis Curator]

Sorry, I wasn't sure where else to post this.

If I want to set a couple of hard drives to be RAID1 inside an enclosure (that supports RAID 1), can I at a later date, take one of the hard drives, plug it into a PC and use it like a normal hard drive?

What I basically want is one hard drive to be an exact copy of the other in case of hard drive failure.

At the moment, I just copy files on to each drive, which takes twice as long and then disconnect the drives from the PC for storage - I connect them again every few months to back up changes / new files.

Thanks

 

[kanewolf]

Sorry, I wasn't sure where else to post this.

If I want to set a couple of hard drives to be RAID1 inside an enclosure (that supports RAID 1), can I at a later date, take one of the hard drives, plug it into a PC and use it like a normal hard drive?

What I basically want is one hard drive to be an exact copy of the other in case of hard drive failure.

At the moment, I just copy files on to each drive, which takes twice as long and then disconnect the drives from the PC for storage - I connect them again every few months to back up changes / new files.

Thanks

RAID will protect against a disk failure. BUT, what about accidentally deleting a file? Both disks will get that file instantly deleted. Your approach of two independent disks ALSO protects from situations like that. Just automate the backup process. Instantaneous backup is not usually required. Nightly backups protect against 99.99% of failures.

 

[USAFRet]

RAID 1 is only to maintain uptime, in the even of a physical drive fail. For instance, if you were running a webserver, and unscheduled downtime mean lost sales.
It does nothing for all the other forms of data loss. Nothing at all.

 

[USAFRet]

At the moment, I just copy files on to each drive, which takes twice as long and then disconnect the drives from the PC for storage

Automate that.

 

[Oasis Curator]

RAID will protect against a disk failure. BUT, what about accidentally deleting a file? Both disks will get that file instantly deleted. Your approach of two independent disks ALSO protects from situations like that. Just automate the backup process. Instantaneous backup is not usually required. Nightly backups protect against 99.99% of failures.

Good point!

Although it's the backup so the original file will be on the PC I guess.

I'll have to look at automatic solutions as I just do it manually at the moment. I have used a piece of software that compares two folders, which was pretty good but not really a plug and play automatic backup.

Any recommendations?

 

[USAFRet]

I'll have to look at automatic solutions as I just do it manually at the moment. I have used a piece of software that compares two folders, which was pretty good but not really a plug and play automatic backup.

Any recommendations?

I use Macrium Reflect.
Full drive images, followed by nightly Incrementals.
Each drive individually, every night.
All to a folder tree on my NAS.

But, OMG!!, it currently actually costs money.
Sometimes, however, paying for good software is worth it. Like buying a good game...😉

If you just want files and folders, FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree.

 

[DSzymborski]

I use Bvckup2, which was like $8 I think and does nightly backups using delta copying on about 13 TB of data to my backup or file servers (or both, where applicable) with no hitches and backups my Steam library (16 TB) once a week with zero issues. The file server sends the crucial data to the off-site backuip at 11 AM every day.

When it comes to crucial things like backups of important data, the solution should be the simplest one that gets the job done. RAID is an absolutely terrible idea unless it's an actual *need*. Backups of mission-critical data should be as uncomplicated as is feasible.