Question raid 1 question - two SSDs via PCIe x2, x4

[jozhlogg]

I'm looking to repurpose my previous computer into a server for Jellyfin, home bridge, Tailscale etc. I had planned to originally use 2 NVMe SSDs in PCIe 16x slots via sabrent adapters to achieve the best speed possible, but I have just realised that my motherboard only has 1 16x slot, and a 2x m.2 on the board. Would it still be possible to use both drives in RAID 1 (for redundancy) with the slight difference in interface?

The SSD
The sabrent adapter

 

[Lutfij]

You might want to also include the make and model of your motherboard.

 

[Ralston18]

Unless there are stated and documented reasons for using RAID 1 with Jellyfish then do not use RAID in any form.

RAID is applicable only when required for specific environments and applications.

RAID is not a backup solution.

How is speed going to be determined?

 

[jozhlogg]

You might want to also include the make and model of your motherboard.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte H310M s2h 2.0 rev1.0, paired with an i5-9600k

Unless there are stated and documented reasons for using RAID 1 with Jellyfish then do not use RAID in any form.

RAID is applicable only when required for specific environments and applications.

RAID is not a backup solution.

How is speed going to be determined?

Okay, there’s a good chance I’m making some rookie errors here. I was under the assumption that RAID 1 was the “sensible” choice, whilst not being as good as a backup still at least providing some kind of redundancy in case of drive failure.

So, going forward I now get the impression that I should go with one drive in this machine for media, with a backup solution elsewhere?

Thanks so far for your help.

 

[Ralston18]

Multiple drives being okay but not in a RAID configuration.

Many people use, for example, the C: drive for OS and D: drive for games.

And backup solutions are a different matter.

There are several regular, long time, very experienced members here in "Storage" that have well defined and executed backup plans.

I will defer to those members.

 

[jozhlogg]

Great, thanks for the help. For now I’ll return the two drives and instead get a similar 4tb drive, and look into a backup solution in the near future.

 

[USAFRet]

Great, thanks for the help. For now I’ll return the two drives and instead get a similar 4tb drive, and look into a backup solution in the near future.

Backups...

I use Macrium Reflect.
(sadly, it costs money now, but so do almost all of the competitors)

Full drive Images, written off to a different drive. Over the years, I've found that trying to be selective and just copy what I think I need invariably leaves off something critical. Full drive Images, you can't miss something.

Full drive, followed by a series of Incremental images.
All automated on a schedule.

The basic concept is 3-2-1.
3 copies, on at least 2 different media, at least 1 offsite or otherwise inaccessible.


The basic procedure is in the first post here. (somewhat modified since I wrote this in 2017, but the basics)

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com