Is it safe to use duo external hard drives for back up (in RAID Array)?

A Furry Peanut · Feb 4, 2016

So I understand that having an external hard drive as a backup and storage for your files (music, videos, documents etc...) is not a good idea.
But what about something like WD My Book Duo 4TB (2 x 2TB) Two-Bay USB-3.0 RAID Array?
I read somewhere that due to RAID the two hard drives work together as one so in this scenario would it still be a good idea to use one of the 2TB HD as back-up and the other 2TB HD as storage for files?

mcnumpty23 · Feb 4, 2016

why is it a bad idea?

for one thing you can turn externals off except when making new back ups or getting data from them

this isolates them from the system which to me is a good idea

and do you mean striped raid or mirrored?

striped isnt a great idea for back ups mirrored is better

and if its really important stuff i would recommend more than one back up any way

Edit: and if its mirrored raid then you only get 2tb as such because the 2nd 2tb will have an exact copy of the 1st one

if you have a version of windows with storage spaces and any old drives handy it provides a very versatile almost sort of software raid but much more flexible

i have 6 old drives that arent worth the effort of ebaying as worth very little nowadays set up in storage spaces

though having a motherboard with plenty sata ports helps with this

4745454b · Feb 4, 2016

Agreed. Externals are awesome for backups. That's the point of them. A "my book" or other such device is the point of a backup. Something you plug in when you need, and can remove from the computer when you don't. The data is then backed up and isn't going to be lost if you have a virus or worse come through. If someone told you otherwise don't listen to them.

I'd also avoid all forms of RAID. It will only complicate things.

hang-the-9 · Feb 5, 2016

A Furry Peanut :

Having an external drive for backups if perfectly fine, as long as that is used for backups not to hold your only copy of the files, and you don't abuse the drive. You also would want to periodically check the backups to make sure the files are OK and able to be read or restored. Without testing the backup you are really only "hoping" you have a good backup.

The RAID setup is even better as it gives you a better reliability rating with dual drives, if one of the drives dies, the second still has all of your files. So you really have a double and 3 places where you can keep data, your original files, the backup on one RAID drive and the backup on the second RAID drive.

4745454b · Feb 7, 2016

Except RAID is still attached to the system, so it's not a backup. A true backup would only be attached to the system while backing up. If a RAID1 system was being used for a backup and you got hit with a crypto virus, your files are still locked. A USB drive NOT plugged in would contain the backup you wanted.

hang-the-9 · Feb 8, 2016

4745454b :

External USB box with RAID is what he was talking about, so used for backups with a drive failure recovery built in.

Although that last line "use one of the 2TB HD as back-up and the other 2TB HD as storage for files? " is not how RAID works, with RAID 1 you have a mirror of the two drives, so the same content is on both. It's not like you use one drive for backup and the other for storage. You'd use your internal hard drive for storage and that RAID USB box for backup, and the RAID gives you extra reliability since one of those drives can fail and you would still be OK.

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Is it safe to use duo external hard drives for back up (in RAID Array)?

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