Raid1 vs Storage Spaces vs Drive Mirror Software [FBackup, EaseUSTodo Backup, etc.]

[ScottNY]

I am looking for the best way to protect myself from drive failure. I have offsite backups for my music collection, but due to the size of the files, it is huge and I would like a local backup, too.

I have two new 3 TB drives. Should I use software Raid1 [software RAID is safer than hardware RAID, I've been told ], Storage Spaces [Win 10 Pro] or an independent backup mirror software? I am using an i5 6600K chip that is not overclocked and I don't want to slow my PC down too much.

Thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

I would view storage spaces, raid etc. as systems that provide uptime, a backup has a slightly different, can you afford to not have access for the duration of a restore (including purchasing and delivery of a disk as well), if you can't then go storage spaces (more portable than raid) and additionally have a backup, if you can afford that time then just use a backup.

 

[Quarkzquarkz]

Well these days CPU performance is very capable of handling cache and parity calculations that raid hardware isn't used unless it's for high end applications. The difference in performance now is pretty much negligible unless you're planning on long term storage and/or looking for a slight increase in speed. On that software note, go Linux because Windows raid isn't optimized to the point of decent performance.

If you have a very large amount of data to store also consider getting a bit more drives and try raid 10, which is a combination of raid 0 and 1. It's the best balance between storage, speed and safety but a bit more expensive, good luck!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Our last build was dual RAID, just because I hadn't done it in a few years and wanted to see if anything had changed that would offer some kind of benefit.

(2) 250 GB Samsung Pro SSDs were set up in RAID 0
(2) 2 TB Seagate SSHDs were set up in RAID 1

After 3 months I broke both arrays and started over. The RAID arrays provided no speed or usability improvements and were frankly a PITA requiring too much attention.

a) The 1st SSDs was set up as a boot drive w/ the second for things for which the application actually might benefit in some way from the extra speed.

b) The box serves double duty as a CAD Workstation and office file server tho the network load is very low, usually with no more than 2-3 files in use at any one time. 1st SSHD serves as the storage location for all business and personal files ... the second SSHD serves as a mirror image of the 1st, but this is done with daily backups on a timed schedule w/ FBackup (free).

c) Off site storage is rotated out using a drive docking station (BlacX) and rotating drives on a weekly basis.

 

[Solandri]

1) RAID is not a backup. If you want to protect yourself against data loss, you want a backup, not RAID. Conversely, even if you have RAID, you still need a backup.

2) RAID is for redundancy (except for the misnamed RAID 0, which is not redundant despite the R in RAID standing for Redundant). If you want your system to continue chugging along without downtime despite the failure of a drive, you want RAID.

3) Hardware RAID is just a computer on a board doing the RAID parity calculations. It made sense back in the 1980s when these parity calculations could eat up 60% of a CPU's processing cycles. It makes very little sense today when it takes up less than 1% of a CPU's processing cycles. Just have the PC's CPU perform the RAID calculations (software RAID). About the only reason to use hardware RAID nowadays is if you want the storage system to be robust against software corruption or hacking. So basically, if you aren't a government TLA organization, or a megacorporation trying to protect sensitive and essential data, don't bother with hardware RAID.

4) It sounds like your music collection can fit in 3 TB. That is not huge. If it can fit on a single drive, it's not huge. Single-drive backups are the cheapest and easiest form of redundancy. The other reason for RAID existing is for when you have data sets too large to fit on a single drive (I backup my NAS to a RAID enclosure with 4 drives configured as 12 TB).

Based on your description (desire a local backup), just get a large external HDD and backup your files to it. Since you already have off-site backups, you can keep it at home. External because the "offline" requirement still applies. There's little point having a local backup if whatever corrupts the computer's HDDs also corrupts the local backup. Plug it in once a month or once a week to make an incremental backup, unplug it, and put it in a drawer.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Corruption, as in the OS, would rarely extend to other drives. Of course viruses and malware can travel anywhere and any disk can fail. An on site backup however does little for you after a fire destroys both. I do recommend against "external" drives w/ enclosures for several reasons.

a) Many use proprietary interfaces and software ... the host computer is obviously equipped with these, but if that system is compromised or destroyed, options are limited.

b) An external drive comes at increased cost, which is doubled , tripled, etc depending on how many you use.

c) A HD docking station, OTOH allows a single device to serve as a dock for any number of backup HDs. No proprietary interface, no software required. You can take the local or offsite backup and install it in any computer (or use in another dock) and read it immediately w/o any software. If the internal HD is compromised, the local is already plugged in and accessible ... if the computer and local drive are destroyed, the offsite would take about a minute to retrieve. As a full mirror w/ file system and no software / drivers needed ... it is immediately accessible from my lappie or any other PC.

 

[ScottNY]

Thank you all for your comments. Since my concern is drive failure, I think I should continue my offsite backup, as well as use Storage Spaces for a real-time, automatic mirror [if one drive dies]. I have old, extra HDDs and a dock. Unfortunately, I don't have the space to keep the dock permanently connected, but I will periodically connect the dock, do a manual "back-up" and leave the old HDD somewhere other than my house. Every few weeks, I can make a new backup on a second HDD, rotating the HDDs back and forth, which seems to take advantage of everyone's advice. [My OS is separate on an SSD.]

For Storage Spaces, should I specify the entire usable space my two internal 3TB HDDs or only as much as I think I will need? I think I read you can make the Storage Spaces larger, but not smaller. Any thoughts?

 

[13thmonkey]

I'd make it 16TB, using 2x3TB disks in the pool.

 

[ScottNY]

Ok, as I read more, I understand more of the advice here. I don't need RAID or mirroring at all, nor do I need more storage space. What I need is a good backup program to automatically back up one 3 TB drive to the other, in addition to my offsite and periodic external HDD backups. With the right backup program, if one HDD fails, I just replace the failed HDD and begin the backup to the new, replacement HDD. I would never lose more than a few hours of work.

Any suggestions for free or low-cost backup programs?