RAID for Backup

invisible69 · 25 May 2010 at 14:51

Ok so, my 750GB hdd is almost full because I've split it into two partitions, one serves as my OS "drive", whilst the other as my backup partition.

Now I'm thinking about huying two large hard disks to put into RAID 1 so that I don't have to keep backing up things onto different PC's and such.

My current hardware is this:

CPU: Core i7 920 @ 3.6GHz

RAM: 6GB OCZ Gold @ 1700MHz

HDD: Seagate 750GB 7200.11 + External USB 80GB (for music and stuff)

Motherboard: Asus P6T

Now my Asus P6T has these special RAID ports which they call Asus Drive Xpert:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=QtpKQuERkuYw6trc&content=specifications

It has two settings, Super Speed (RAID 0) or EZ Backup (RAID 1). I'm thinking about buying two Samsung 1TB F3's, and putting them in RAID 1 mode on those two ports:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

Do you think that I'll run into some problem? Anyone has experience with such setups? Do you think that I should buy another 750GB 7200.11 and raid it with my current drive, and then buy a faster HDD as my OS drive? Maybe some 10k drive? What would you suggest?

edscdk · 25 May 2010 at 14:56

I'd not use raid for backup what happens if you accidently delete all your files or copy over them'?

invisible69 · 25 May 2010 at 15:13

edscdk said:
I'd not use raid for backup what happens if you accidently delete all your files or copy over them'?

What do you mean? I won't use the backup drives for my programs or Operating System, I'll only use them to back up my Music, Documents and Pictures. Nothing else. And I want to use RAID 1 so that all my data is mirrored to the other drive, hence if one fails I shouldn't lose any data

PistolPete · 25 May 2010 at 16:17

RAID is not intended to replace backups - what edscdk is saying that should your machine have a fit and delete your files, or worse corrupt them somehow, then RAID1 will not help you at all.

RAID should be used along with, not instead of, backups.

However..... after saying all that RAID1 will guard against a drive failure and shuld that be the limit or your expectations then RAID1 will work fine.

I have learnt the hard and expensive way and now run RAID + 2 backups (2 identical USB disks - one kept at home & one kept at work for the irreplacable stuff) just is case

Hodders · 25 May 2010 at 16:25

Given the cost of an external 1TB disk, you'd be mad not to buy a couple and just keep rotating them with one kept at a mates house. It is what I do...

I have disks in my PC:

1) SSD for system (with image on the raid-1 partition for a quick roll-back)
2) 2 x 1TB disks in raid-1 for data
3) 2 x 1TB external disks for rotating backup (1 always kept at a mates house)

Raid 1 protects against disk failure, it is NOT a backup..... Just search for "I lost all my data" to see some of the people who thought it was

invisible69 · 25 May 2010 at 17:51

Thanks for the tips guys

Yes yes I know that RAID will not replace backups, I'll use my sisters PC HDD for a backup of the backup of important files

What I meant is that I want one place where I can back up all my files at once and put my mind to rest. I have no mission critical stuff, I keep my uni stuff on both my Pen drive and my PC so that if one fails I've got the other. Music and Movies are kept on my external drive, but what if that fails? That's why I wish to set up back up with RAID, so that I can have another copy of my files