Cheap RAID1?

[nterror]

Well I was going to get a WD MyBook Mirror (1TB), but someone told me about WD's bad history (power on and failure rates etc.)...

So now I'm looking at the LaCie 2big Dual (1TB). Anything I should know about LaCie?

Also, is $210 too much for a RAID 1 setup? Looks like if I buy an external enclosure with RAID and get the HDDs separately, its still around $190-$200. But maybe there's a better way?

Just want to save my data (400GB atm), just care about reliablity.

 

[whitebus]

there are probably cheaper internal solutions. is this a laptop or a desktop you are trying to protect? also, how big is your current drive (is 400gb your data size or your hard drive size)?

 

[ichwar]

Well I was going to get a WD MyBook Mirror (1TB), but someone told me about WD's bad history (power on and failure rates etc.)...

So now I'm looking at the LaCie 2big Dual (1TB). Anything I should know about LaCie?

Also, is $210 too much for a RAID 1 setup? Looks like if I buy an external enclosure with RAID and get the HDDs separately, its still around $190-$200. But maybe there's a better way?

Just want to save my data (400GB atm), just care about reliablity.

You do know that raid won't help you save your data any better? Raid is just so that you can access your data faster.

 

[xPlozion]

You do know that raid won't help you save your data any better? Raid is just so that you can access your data faster.

no, raid 1 will mirror your data to the other hdd, so in the event of one hdd failing, you've still got the data safe on the other one. there's many other raid configs, but that's the one that will do his job best.

lacie is a good, reliable product, so you can't go wrong w/ them.


looking into them, i'm thinking of getting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000VW0QO2 for my networkable backup for all computers (about 5, then another when the server becomes a desktop again)

 

[ichwar]

no, raid 1 will mirror your data to the other hdd, so in the event of one hdd failing, you've still got the data safe on the other one. there's many other raid configs, but that's the one that will do his job best.

lacie is a good, reliable product, so you can't go wrong w/ them.


looking into them, i'm thinking of getting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000VW0QO2 for my networkable backup for all computers (about 5, then another when the server becomes a desktop again)

Really, I read that RAID takes your original hard drive, and mirrors sections of it to other hard drives in a way that there is a piece of each file or folder on each drive, that way, when the file or folder is called up, it will load faster.
Is that just plain old wrong? Or am I confusing it with something else?

 

[intertec]

I think that is another type of raid! Maybe I'm wrong but I think its raid5.

I reccomend not playing around with raid if you don't no what you are doing!

 

[xPlozion]

yes, that's raid 4/5 that he's thinking of.

raid 1 (I want to setup a raid 1 config in my computer, allowing the other 2 hdd's to go into the "server" for backups and files
A RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on two or more disks. This is useful when read performance or reliability are more important than data storage capacity.

raid 4:
A RAID 4 uses block-level striping with a dedicated parity disk. This allows each member of the set to act independently when only a single block is requested.

raid 5:
A RAID 5 uses block-level striping with parity data distributed across all member disks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_inexpensive_disks#Standard_levels

 

[nterror]

400GB is data size, its two external drives at 320GB and 80GB (full).

I don't have a backup plan (DVDs are out of the question, external Blu Ray burners are expensive). I only have a laptop, so everything has to be external.

Thanks xPlozion. I'll order the LaCie.

 

[ichwar]

yes, that's raid 4/5 that he's thinking of.

raid 1 (I want to setup a raid 1 config in my computer, allowing the other 2 hdd's to go into the "server" for backups and files
A RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on two or more disks. This is useful when read performance or reliability are more important than data storage capacity.

raid 4:
A RAID 4 uses block-level striping with a dedicated parity disk. This allows each member of the set to act independently when only a single block is requested.

raid 5:
A RAID 5 uses block-level striping with parity data distributed across all member disks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_inexpensive_disks#Standard_levels

Oh, ok. Thanks for explaining that! :biggrin:

 

[Smith6612]

It all depends on what RAID you're using. My gaming computer is set up to use RAID 0. This uses two or more drives, however the RAID array was configured to speed up the computer by having double the hard drive speed in a way. RAID 1 is used for backup, where should one drive fail, the other drive will be there to boot from but the array will warn you and it means it's time to back up your data and get a new drive, and then re-set the array. There are higher up RAIDS but I don't know of any info on that.

If anything, RAID 1 is a good way to go. Personally, I store my data on just a single external hard drive enclosure. It's not running RAID or anything, but just as long as you buy a well built drive, you should be good to go for years. I run Western Digital's VelociRaptor drives in my gaming box. They take quite a bit of "abuse" and still work perfect to this day. I also have some older systems in my house that use Western Digital Maxtor drives. Those are some tough drives. Seagate's Barracuda drives are good as well. However, be warned that on one of their larger 1TB drives, the firmware is buggy on it to the point where the BIOS on the drive will "brick" the drive.

If anything, I've had great experiences with Western Digital drives. Typically stick with the Maxtor drives, but as with any drive, when you format it, always do a format and then check the drive for read/write errors by using chkdsk or another disk checking utility.

 

[nterror]

...but as with any drive, when you format it, always do a format and then check the drive for read/write errors by using chkdsk or another disk checking utility.

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, the 320GB is a Western Digital, and it has been good. However it has some issues when it connects to Vista. I called a data recovery center and they said that the majority of drives they get are WD. Sure it could mean that WD are very popular, like there are more cars than there are planes in the sky, statistically making planes safer. But it still left a bad taste. :dunno: