Question Using one HDD from a RAID 1 setup to backup the same RAID 1 files

[jojoharry16]

It's not straightforward, so I'll try and clear it up:

I have 2 large HDDs in my PC using ReFS to act like RAID 1 redundancy. I used ReFS because I honestly thought Linux could interact with it just like NTFS, but turns out I was wrong and now all my data is unreadable.

My question is, since the data should be duplicated, can I take one of the HDDs, format it to be ext2 (for example), and copy the data from the remaining ReFS HDD to the new ext2 HDD?

And if I do that, is there a way to then format the second HDD to ext2 and use it to add redundancy to the existing data?

If anything is unclear I'll do my best to clarify, any and all help is greatly appreciated

 

[USAFRet]

It's not straightforward, so I'll try and clear it up:

I have 2 large HDDs in my PC using ReFS to act like RAID 1 redundancy. I used ReFS because I honestly thought Linux could interact with it just like NTFS, but turns out I was wrong and now all my data is unreadable.

My question is, since the data should be duplicated, can I take one of the HDDs, format it to be ext2 (for example), and copy the data from the remaining ReFS HDD to the new ext2 HDD?

And if I do that, is there a way to then format the second HDD to ext2 and use it to add redundancy to the existing data?

If anything is unclear I'll do my best to clarify, any and all help is greatly appreciated

No.
If you"format" it to be ext2...how do you propose to get the data? It is gone, from that formatting action.


RAID 1, either Windows or Linux, is NOT a good backup concept.

RAID 1 is for continued uptime, not data security and redundancy.

 

[jojoharry16]

No.
If you"format" it to be ext2...how do you propose to get the data? It is gone, from that formatting action.


RAID 1, either Windows or Linux, is NOT a good backup concept.

RAID 1 is for continued uptime, not data security and redundancy.

Thanks for your input, I never mentioned backup, though. I have redundancy in my machine because I lost my data once and I don't want to go through that again because of a faulty drive. I have backups of the important stuff on an external Nextcloud server.

Since I have 2 HDDs with mirrored contents (let's call them A and B), I was wondering if formatting A to ext2 and then copying the contents of B to it is feasible, if so is it common practice; or if there's a known alternative other than buying another HDD.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for your input, I never mentioned backup, though. I have redundancy in my machine because I lost my data once and I don't want to go through that again because of a faulty drive. I have backups of the important stuff on an external Nextcloud server.

Since I have 2 HDDs with mirrored contents (let's call them A and B), I was wondering if formatting A to ext2 and then copying the contents of B to it is feasible, if so is it common practice; or if there's a known alternative other than buying another HDD.

In the consumer world, RAID 1 or anything similar is mostly a waste, and not needed.

Within my NAS, I have a routine to copy the contents of one volume to another, on a hands off schedule.
But that is not a 100% RAID 1 style 'mirror'.

Currently, it seems you have ONE copy of your data in that mirror. That is not optimal.
Accidentally delete something, it is gone.

Might your procedure work?
Maybe.
But I wouldn't trying it without a known good copy of everything in that array. Too many ways for things to go wrong.