Safest solution of storinga

Axcel3D

Distinguished
Aug 29, 2015
8
1
18,515
Hi,
I need your help to figure out the safest solution for storing data. We need to ask against what we want to our data. So:

File corruption
hard drives hardware failure
motherboard/psu hardware failure
burglary, fire, hackers, maleware

In my home i have access to internet only through wifi and it's not fast either. So NAS solutions might be problematic in my case. Also because, my gaming pc is pretty big and empty, i'd like to pack hdds/sdds there instead of having another external solution.

What pops up to my mind is:
- raid1 of 2 hdds?
- software mirroring of drives
- cloud
- some app for managing data between partitions/physical drives and checking corruptions in
- meantime
 
Hey there, Axcel3D.

Well basically having in mind you've ruled out the Cloud service because of a bad connection and a NAS (although when connected to your home network the speeds should be OK), there's not much left.

RAID 1 is not a bad option as you've suggested, however, this is not considered to be a backup - it provides only redundancy. The reasons for it not be considered as a backup is because a backup should be stored on a separate location from the original data, as having a RAID 1 on the same machine as the original data, means that your files won't be protected from floods, fires, burglary, viruses, power surges, etc. Basically they'll be exposed to the same threats as your regular storage drives.

I'd normally recommend a personal cloud/NAS device in a RAID 1 configuration, however you've mentioned that you want to stay away from that. The best option would be having one of these in another apartment/house or whatever, but you'll be limited by your internet speed and data backups might take quite a lot of time.

Please let me know what you think about everything I've mentioned and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
Boogieman_WD
 


 
Awesome answer from your side. :) That's kind of info I was looking for.
I think in a future I will go into NAS solution.
For now I've made raid1. (btw, what "redundancy" means?) What else can I do to improve reliability of my data and prevent from lost or corruption? I will hold on with NAS as I said, so maybe cloud? Or should I try some software for managing data? I have quite many physical hard drives.
Cloud depends on internet connection and how convenient it will be depends how many GB of data is changing on daily basis. I think in my case not that much and easily I can do nightly synchronization/update between pc and cloud. Any recommendations which one to choose?
 
Well, redundancy basically is "the duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system, usually in the form of a backup or fail-safe." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundancy_(engineering). This is basically because RAID 1 has 2 drives with the exact same data on each of them which covers the definition.

As for a recommendation, basically you could check out My Cloud Mirror. I have one at home for almost 2 years (which is actually the older generation), setup in a RAID 1 configuration and haven't had a single issue with it. You can find more about its features here: WD My Cloud Mirror.
As you've mentioned that you don't have a lot of data which you'd have to constantly backup, with My Cloud Mirror you can use WD SmartWare, which you can use to schedule you backups as you've suggested or select automatic, continuous backup which practically backs up the files every time they are change/modified - e.g. if you are working on a project and you've selected the file to be backed up, while working on it, each time you save it or make a change, it will be backed up automatically at the same time.

Let me know if you have any questions. Note that this is just a suggestion, so of course you should go with whatever Cloud suits your budget and needs best, no matter the brand. :)
 
Generally I was already searching abut everything I am asking about here. Just didin't find clear answers.
WD My Cloud and Smartware works with any drive, or only with WD?
Regarding to Raid1, i have a hipothetical question. What about situation when my raid on mobo is getting broken or any other reason and one of the drive from Raid1 become detached, then I copied some data (or some app put created temp files) on still visible drive, and then, after reboot, second drive become visible, so raid1 is complete again, but inconsistent in files. What then? :>
 
The WD My Cloud Mirror has no option to be bought without drives inside (as some of the NAS enclosures can be bought empty), so it will come with WD Red drives. The WD SmartWare can be used with all kinds of drives - both 3rd party and WD - "If you have a WD external drive that does not have WD SmartWare installed, or even a third party external USB drive, you can download the software and quickly begin protecting your important files.".

The idea of RAID 1 is to have 2 drives with the same data on them at all times, so the question you have concerns one of its most valuable functions. If one of the drives fails, you could change it with another one and the data should be automatically updated and the RAID will rebuild itself. If there's difference between the versions of the data between the two drives, the data should be rebuilt with the most recent ones.
 
How reliable is this "rebuilding data" by raid1? Is it done quickly, in background, by windows, automatically just after windows boot? Or do I have read tons of articles about it, make many trials and install 3rd party software?
Is it safe to detach one hard drive from raid1, take it somewhere, copy data from it and bring it and connect it back to raid1?