What RAID level should I use in a home NAS?

[Peter_126]

So I'd like to build a NAS at home with fault tolerance using 4 disks, but I stumbled across this article which naturally got me asking what level of RAID should I use and what disks should I buy for the most bang for my buck...

http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-6-stops-working-in-2019/

Just wanted to clarify some numbers...

4TB desktop disks like the Seagate ST4000DM000 & Western Digital WD40EZRZ are the best value for money these days. They have a URE rate of less than one error every 10^14

So in a 4 disk array, using RAID 5 it would be unlikely to encounter a URE as the total would be 12TB?

 

[thejackal85]

This is a question where there will be no right or wrong answer, because it's all up to you.

You do have a couple options here:

RAID 5 - as you mentioned, you have a RAID 5 with a combined total of 12TB, this would be the obvious choice, however, the RAID itself provides no redundancy.

RAID 5 with hot swap - the idea of a hotswap is if a drive fails, this "spare" drive will kick in and keep the progress going so you can replace the bad drive. This is a form of redundancy to ensure the drives themselves stay in good shape. The drawback of this is your RAID size will be brought down to 8TB instead of 12.


What program are you using to execute the backup?

 

[Peter_126]

RAID 5 - as you mentioned, you have a RAID 5 with a combined total of 12TB, this would be the obvious choice, however, the RAID itself provides no redundancy.

RAID 5 with hot swap - the idea of a hotswap is if a drive fails, this "spare" drive will kick in and keep the progress going so you can replace the bad drive. This is a form of redundancy to ensure the drives themselves stay in good shape. The drawback of this is your RAID size will be brought down to 8TB instead of 12.


What program are you using to execute the backup?

Wouldn't RAID5 plus a spare, rely on the parity/redundancy of RAID5?

I'm using a Thecus N4310 NAS box which is Linux based. It supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 & 10

 

[FireWire2]

So I'd like to build a NAS at home with fault tolerance using 4 disks, but I stumbled across this article which naturally got me asking what level of RAID should I use and what disks should I buy for the most bang for my buck...

http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-6-stops-working-in-2019/

Just wanted to clarify some numbers...

4TB desktop disks like the Seagate ST4000DM000 & Western Digital WD40EZRZ are the best value for money these days. They have a URE rate of less than one error every 10^14

So in a 4 disk array, using RAID 5 it would be unlikely to encounter a URE as the total would be 12TB?

Do you see the comment section is closed, that is a load of BS. Less than 8 drives, raid 5 is fine even you use 8TB HDD.

But if you are serious about the RAID, then do not use MB raid engine, use hardware RAID like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118106&cm_re=raid_controller-_-16-118-106-_-Product
or
http://www.amazon.com/multiplier-hardware-RAID0-CLONE-Controller/dp/B004JPUZWU/

Dont take my word, just look at the reviews, read the comment from actual users