rjragone
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Network Storage - Best Option?
After my previous single drive NAS crashed and burned, I need a replacement.
I've been told to get a dual drive NAS and configure it for RAID 1.
But I've also been told that even RAID 1 can fail if the mirror crashes, and I am better off with two separate single NAS drives with one drive a the usable drive and the other as a backup for the first. Then run a software that auto backs-up the first NAS drive to the 2nd NAS drive. This seams much more complicated than a RAID 1 system, plus how often should I tell the software to back-up? Once a day? Then should the software only look for changes between the two drives, or do a complete back-up each and every day? I would think this would wear out the drives quickly.
So should I go for a RAID 1 system, or some other back-up system? Must be network backup.
Thanks!
~Russ
I've been told to get a dual drive NAS and configure it for RAID 1.
But I've also been told that even RAID 1 can fail if the mirror crashes, and I am better off with two separate single NAS drives with one drive a the usable drive and the other as a backup for the first. Then run a software that auto backs-up the first NAS drive to the 2nd NAS drive. This seams much more complicated than a RAID 1 system, plus how often should I tell the software to back-up? Once a day? Then should the software only look for changes between the two drives, or do a complete back-up each and every day? I would think this would wear out the drives quickly.
So should I go for a RAID 1 system, or some other back-up system? Must be network backup.
Thanks!
~Russ
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What is your opinion of the Linksys NAS200? I'm thinking of this solution with two 500 GB drives to RAID 1.
Please do not think of RAID as backup. RAID is not backup. RAID is redundancy and it's there simply to protect against the failure of a single disk. RAID cannot protect you from theft, fire, flood, accidental deletion, corruption, viruses, or malicious deletions. This is what backups are for. Nothing that you use as a server of data should be running less than a RAID 1 in my opinion... but then it should be backed up nightly - and not to another identical system either - to a backup medium that you can take off site, in case of fire, theft, etc.
the nas 200 for personal use would work fine in my opinion
as leew said though if you want to store files (important ones that your life would be ruined with out) then the option of off site storage like http://mozy.com/ would be good (set it up and let it back up remotely so you do not have to worry about drives failing) but then again for immediate access and to protect your data locally from computer hard drive failure the NAS200 - BTW with raid 1 you would only have 500GB of space because it is mirroring the data between the 2 drives
as for your old NAS that died... you can probably get a new HDD for it and then just use it for random storage depending on what type of nas it was - some require software to be loaded onto the drive its self to function- or sell it on ebay for parts (just take the harddrive out before selling it)
as leew said though if you want to store files (important ones that your life would be ruined with out) then the option of off site storage like http://mozy.com/ would be good (set it up and let it back up remotely so you do not have to worry about drives failing) but then again for immediate access and to protect your data locally from computer hard drive failure the NAS200 - BTW with raid 1 you would only have 500GB of space because it is mirroring the data between the 2 drives
as for your old NAS that died... you can probably get a new HDD for it and then just use it for random storage depending on what type of nas it was - some require software to be loaded onto the drive its self to function- or sell it on ebay for parts (just take the harddrive out before selling it)
ASKER