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Time to replace my RAID back-up?
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:50 am
by hullyjr
Despite having a relatively new iMac and an external SSD drive, I've not given as much thought to my primary back-up system. Currently, this is 2 x 6TB spindle drives connected by Thunderbolt 2. The fact that I needed a cable adapter tells you the age of this set-up! How often should you replace these types of drives? I was considering just upgrading the enclosure but I should probably retire the drivers too. Any brand recommendations? Does anyone use the cloud-based systems, and what are your thoughts about them?
Thanks,
Re: Time to replace my RAID back-up?
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:52 am
by Mark L
Personally, I don't consider clooud backup to be a replacement for on site backup. The cloud is remote, but very slow and it can get expensive to hold.
I believe that a wired, local backup is an essential part of any backup strategy. How you handle that local backup depends on what you require and want. I like using a local RAID setup for my on site. Currently I use a two disk RAID that is mirrored (100% overlap). If I was to replace the current box I would buy a 4 or 5 disk box and use 3 or 4 GB drives to generate a substantial backup volume. The RAID boxes monitor disk condition and I have just let the box "tell" me when it is necessary/desrirable to replace a drive. My RAID is only used for backup, so I don't have it turned on all the time.
Just my thoughts and practice...
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:12 am
by E.J. Peiker
I do something similar to Mark but my on-site bulk storage backup is two 5 drive NAS units. Each is in a RAID 5 configuration. The beauty of this is that since it is network attached, my images are available to me anywhere in the world as long as I can establish a WiFi or Cell phone connection.
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:02 pm
by hullyjr
Thanks for the information. This does bring up new question about RAID configurations. Stepping aside from my original back-up question, do I have my primary external drive configered optimally? All my images are here. Currently this consists of 4 x 1TB SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration. Should I be using RAID 5 for this? Are there any hardware/software requirements for such a set-up.
Re:
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:58 pm
by E.J. Peiker
hullyjr wrote:Thanks for the information. This does bring up new question about RAID configurations. Stepping aside from my original back-up question, do I have my primary external drive configered optimally? All my images are here. Currently this consists of 4 x 1TB SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration. Should I be using RAID 5 for this? Are there any hardware/software requirements for such a set-up.
There's no right or wrong here, RAID 0 is less space efficient but faster. As primary storage, RAID 0 is probably the way to go but as backup storage, RAID 5 is more efficient, especially if youa re doing incremental backups rather than echo backups.
Re: Time to replace my RAID back-up?
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:16 pm
by Mark L
I have my NAS unit setup as RAID 1 (redundant storage). I also have a 5 disk RAID box that connects by SATA setup as RAID 5 (something over 14TB capacity using 4TB disks). If I was to buy a new NAS I would buy a 5 disk unit and run it in RAID 5. The strategy that EJ suggests sounds really sound and very versatile.