Storage Server with RAID or not

SandLake

I have 2 NAS drives, 1 is an actual Synology NAS (2Tb) and the other is a homebuilt server (14Tb). Ther home built server is setup as 2 disks, one (call it D1) in a raid config of 4.5Tb and the other (call it D2) non-raided as 4Tb. D1 contains 2 folders called Primary and Secondary which contain important and not so important data. Every night I copy the Primary folder from D1 onto the Synology and also to D2 and the Secondary folder from D1 gets copied onto D2.
I am about to rebuild the home server and I think I am being too cautious, I could either combine D1 and D2 into one raided drive or split them into 2 non-raided 7Tb drives - but I not sure which is best?

John_Gray

My general rule is to back up important files in more than two locations - both backup devices and physical locations.

Always think worst case scenario - your situation may perhaps be better, but don't rely on it...

forgotmyname

Important files are saved onto one folder on a PC, also saved onto at least 2 drives on the NAS and the important folder is then backed up to an external 3TB drive.

If one drive on the NAS fails then there will be another. If the entire NAS fails and wipes the drives then i still have copies on at least one PC and also the backup USB drive.

And i can also backup to my own website. But i must admit i dont do that as often as i should.

d0nkeyk0ng

forgotmyname wrote: »

If one drive on the NAS fails then there will be another. If the entire NAS fails and wipes the drives then i still have copies on at least one PC and also the backup USB drive.

Assuming all devices are at home, what do you do if your house catches fire and destroys everything?

I'd look at cloud storage for "off site" back up.

SandLake

With 1 14Tb drive in one case - is it better to use it as 1 raided drive or 2 seperate non-raided drvies?

debitcardmayhem

SandLake wrote: »

With 1 14Tb drive in one case - is it better to use it as 1 raided drive or 2 seperate non-raided drvies?

How can you raid 1 drive?

I_have_spoken

I think you're conflating availability (RAID) with backups (multiple copies).

WHat are you doing that generates so much data?

It may be old skool, but a tape archiving system may suite you better

forgotmyname

d0nkeyk0ng wrote: »

Assuming all devices are at home, what do you do if your house catches fire and destroys everything?

I'd look at cloud storage for "off site" back up.

The files stored on my website is not at home.

SandLake

Indeed you can't raid 1 drive - that was my mistake, it's a potential 14Tb volume. It is made up of 6 disks.
I could either make into 1 12Tb raided disk or 2 7Tb non-raided disks with a backup running between the 2 nightly. This is for non-critical files.


I think I have answered my own question - the single raided volume will give me moderate protection and a lot more usable storage.

maddogb

you do know there are different types of RAID "arrays"? most common are
mirrored, striped and several variations on parity based arrays.
Personally I feel it has taken me enough time and effort to collect etc all the data on my 3Gb array and the task of restoring it from the backups would take so long and be such an inconvenience I use mirrored, but that might be expensive considering the sheer volume of data you have potential for

SandLake

As part of the process I am about to add 4Tb, it is currently a 4.5Tb raid disk and a 4-ish Tb JBOD. What I am saying is the 4-ish Tb JBOD is superfluous, this is non-critical data. With that 4-ish JBOD and an additional 4Tb disk I can go from effectively 4.5Tb raided and backed up to 12Tb raided - my choice.