Question Synchronization and RAID 1 or just RAID 1 on Windows 11?

[The Electro Machine]

Currently I use mix of NVME M.2 drives and SATA SSDs [and offline archival SATA HDDs] on Windows 10, all in different sizes. But due to dropping prices of big-enough-for-me drives I decided that I will not carry over to my next Windows [by then 11] machine my safety system consisting of spreading my data on few physically separate drives. Instead I want to buy the some 8TB NVME M.2 model in more than 1 unit and keep all of the them either directly on my motherboard or in a bulk PCI-e device; or maybe all or some in an external security box [which may or may not exist for now] connected with a single cable. [The system drive and archival ones will be of separate arrangement that are not to be discussed in this topic, as well as a possible cloud storage]

Thus a question arises: will it be better to use 3 same drives as RAID 1 - or 2 units in RAID 1 plus the 3rd being filled via synchronization method?

With time I might add another drive to that RAID 1, to sleep more soundly - but I would want to have from the get-go an opportunity to just grab one of them and flee from a house when fire department wakes me at night or during a day when an air strike happens. Should this removable / mobile drive be synchronized or it should be just one of the RAID 1 system, because I also will be able to connect it right away to any other machine?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Why do you think you need raid?

If you tell me, it’s because you want to keep a back up of your system I can tell you that this is going to fail you because it’s not a data back up system

It’s pretty much useless these days on ssd

 

[USAFRet]

Why, specifically, the RAID 1?

What are you looking for that to protect?

 

[hotaru.hino]

RAID's only useful for system uptime, it's not useful as a backup method.

If you're looking for a backup solution, I suggest not having it on your main computer per se. It should be handled by a different system.

 

[The Electro Machine]

I want to use RAID 1 to create automatic mirror-backup

I do not want to speed up my transfers as I prefer having more copies

 

[USAFRet]

I want to use RAID 1 to create automatic mirror-backup

I do not want to speed up my transfers as I prefer having more copies

RAID 1 is not a backup
RAID 1 is not a backup
RAID 1 is not a backup
RAID 1 is not a backup

A RAID 1 is/can be good for continued uptime, in the face of a physical drive fail. Thats about it.
It does nothing for all the other forms of data loss. Accidental deletion, formatting, nasty virus, etc, etc.

A RAID 1 might be good if you're running a webstore, and downtime = lost sales.
But any respectable company that is running their system on a RAID 1 array also has a real backup routine.

There are other, better, ways to actually backup your data.

We can go into details if you wish.

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Instead I want to buy the some 8TB NVME M.2 model in more than 1 unit and keep all of the them either directly on my motherboard or in a bulk PCI-e device

Not sure if what I do will be what you are looking for but I'll share...

I have 4x PCIe 4.0 m.2 drives on my board... and 4x PCIe 3.0 m.2 drives in one of these.

SABRENT 4-Drive NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter Card [EC-P3X4]

It's connected to the 3rd PCIe slot blocked by the GPU via a riser cable to avoid any shared bandwidth issues with the 4th slot.

I have 2 HDDs I use for mass media storage and backup... and that's pretty much it. No RAID configurations.

 

[The Electro Machine]

RAID 1 is not a backup
[...]
There are other, better, ways to actually backup your data.

We can go into details if you wish.

Have I asked about backup methods in general?

Or had I in my initial post told specyfically that

[...]
[The system drive and archival ones will be of separate arrangement that are not to be discussed in this topic, as well as a possible cloud storage]

and my question was specifically about using RAID 1 vs. RAID 1 + synchronization?

 

[USAFRet]

and my question was specifically about using RAID 1 vs. RAID 1 + synchronization?

Thus a question arises: will it be better to use 3 same drives as RAID 1 - or 2 units in RAID 1 plus the 3rd being filled via synchronization method?

1. What is the desire/need for the RAID 1, vs just a regular backup routine? There can be an actual need for a RAID 1, but those are few and far between.
2. What 'synchronization' does this refer to?

 

[The Electro Machine]

Not sure if what I do will be what you are looking for but I'll share...
[...]

This is the kind of info I am hoping for

 

[hotaru.hino]

1. What is the desire/need for the RAID 1, vs just a regular backup routine? There can be an actual need for a RAID 1, but those are few and far between.
2. What 'synchronization' does this refer to?

I'm pretty sure this person only wants to listen to what they want to hear, and at this point it's just "I want a RAID 1 solution", regardless of what else we throw at him.

So I guess we could just throw him a bone. But I'll have to bow out because I don't really care for hardware RAID solutions outside of what's built-in in say a NAS box or something.

 

[thestryker]

Most modern RAID implementations by themselves are only good for hardware failure not data protection. If you're worried about data backup it doesn't hurt to have another copy locally, but there's really not going to be much difference between a HDD or NAND SSD when it comes to backup reliability and RAID does nothing here. If you're worried about data protection you need to use a resilient file system of some sort or have hash data to verify data integrity (this gets very complicated very quickly on Windows). Realistically for most home users it's probably a lot better to just rely on built in drive protections (SMART etc) and pay for cloud storage of the most important stuff.

 

[DSzymborski]

RAID is problematic and risky enough that I just don't find it ethical for me to assist in setting up a RAID unless there's an actual use case for it. Your doctor isn't going to replace your knee just because you tell them you want them to. Without more information, all I can ethically do is wish you good fortune on this quest.

 

[thestryker]

You talk about archiving data, but when everyone explains RAID is only for uptime/hardware failures you get upset. You apparently don't understand the concept of data integrity which most of us foolishly assumed you were trying to accomplish. If all you want to do is copy your data around there is no advantage to a mirrored RAID setup over any other data duplication method aside from potentially being less hands on.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

I'm pretty sure this person only wants to listen to what they want to hear, and at this point it's just "I want a RAID 1 solution", regardless of what else we throw at him.

So I guess we could just throw him a bone. But I'll have to bow out because I don't really care for hardware RAID solutions outside of what's built-in in say a NAS box or something.

Hey, he wants to take the blue pill, so let him wake up in his fake world

Raid one does nothing if you delete anything from one disc, it’s gone from the other so there goes your back up lol. Useless. And a waste of Drive space