Is RAID 1 really "safe" for file storage?

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Wintycott

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Apr 24, 2017
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I know from experience that when you replace a drive in a RAID 1, it rebuilds everything including the unused space to the other drive. The rebuilding process can take a really long time to finish, from hours to an entire day or so in some cases.
The main concern is that the drive that holds the data can also fail within that time.

I have an external 2-bay enclosure and I'm thinking to set it to SINGLE mode. Then use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to automatically copy files to the other drive.

Whats your opinion?
 
Solution
JaredDM
You really should consider a versioned backup. RAID 1 and automated sync both have the same drawbacks. If the data is deleted, encrypted, etc. that all gets copied over to the backup and you've negated its benefit. The redundancy of RAID is only for uptime, it's not for backup.

If you implement a backup plan that includes back versions of files, then at least you'll be able to go back and get older versions should the data ever be sabotaged or encrypted by a virus. Also, you should consider an occasional "cold storage" backup that remains disconnected from the system. These viruses have gotten smart lately and they'll often target your backup files and corrupt them. So having a once a month or once a week backup that you keep...
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Herc08

Herc08

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Aug 6, 2016
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If data is important to you, then do that. But these days, there is cloud storage where using RAID for personal use is not necessary. I only clone my data once a month, because I use Google Drive to back up the rest of my data. If you have a router with USB support, you can keep data on an external drive (like a NAS). If you are worried about the system image, then RAID is probably your best bet. If you can get one more drive, using RAID 5 might be a bit better.
 
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RolandJS

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Mar 10, 2017
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Be aware that ransomware, if it ever hits, by the end of the day, can hit hard on all RAID drives -- and any connected external media. I'd like to learn more (I've only heard about RAID operations)! Would you kindly tell me what internal and external hard-drives you have, and how they will be partitioned with Windows __ ?
 
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JaredDM

JaredDM

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Jul 8, 2015
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You really should consider a versioned backup. RAID 1 and automated sync both have the same drawbacks. If the data is deleted, encrypted, etc. that all gets copied over to the backup and you've negated its benefit. The redundancy of RAID is only for uptime, it's not for backup.

If you implement a backup plan that includes back versions of files, then at least you'll be able to go back and get older versions should the data ever be sabotaged or encrypted by a virus. Also, you should consider an occasional "cold storage" backup that remains disconnected from the system. These viruses have gotten smart lately and they'll often target your backup files and corrupt them. So having a once a month or once a week backup that you keep disconnected might just be your saving grace one day.
 
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Wintycott

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Apr 24, 2017
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Thanks guys for your answers!
In the end, i think its best to set the drives to SINGLE mode. Besides, im only going to use the enclosure to store files every once in a while.
So thats it! RAID 1 should only be used to increase uptime. "full stop"
 
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