Data management advice

[Chrisbe]

I am planning to build a Vista 64bit PC using a 965 motherboard. I am new to this forum and looking for some advice. My plan is to use a Raptor drive for the OS and application and build a RAID 5 drive (4 X 250 GB) for all my data (I already own these 250 drives from another RAID implementation). My plan for back up is to create a new image of OS drive so often and store on my RAID 5. My questions is two fold - how big should my Raptor drive be and any comments about this approach? I am considering either the 74 BG or 150 GB raptor drive. In effect, how much will the OS and applications need over time? What are your experiences? I was considering building a RAID 10 using just the 250 drives but I have heard that without a dedicated RAID card I could be in trouble My goal is to have a stable but fast hard drive configuration with an easy to manage backup plan.

Thanks in advance. I look forward to participating in discussions.

 

[Onus]

Copying your O/S drive to your RAID may not be the best solution, as you'll need to rebuild your O/S anyway before you can access the RAID. I'd put the O/S on a RAID-1. I haven't used them personally, but I would think a couple of perp. recording drives would be a more cost-effective solution than a couple of Raptors and nearly as fast.
Since you're going to put apps on it too, without saying what they are, I'd think you'd want the 150 if you go Raptor. The perps come in 320 if you're concerned about app space.
With all those drives, make sure your PSU and cooling are up to it.

 

[jitpublisher]

Backing up the OS is not the problem, you can just reinstall it.
It's all the data that you have on the RAID array that you need to backup.
No RAID array, striped or mirrored should be considered as a reliable backup. It is a backup of sorts, but not entirely foolproof.
Even a mirrored set can fail, and may or may not be easily recoverable.

 

[Chrisbe]

Thanks for the responses.

First, yes, RAID 1 is a better option than ghosting for main OS/Application drive. Here is how I see the pros and cons on that:

Pros: Redundancy, so if a drive goes down I can still use the computer but just need to replace the other drive to retain redundancy. Saves me the hassle of having to ghost the drive every so often and the risk associated with this approach, such as changes since that ghost will be lost.

Cons: Cost - an extra drive. Complexity - twice the failure rate since two drives. And then even risky if the RAID melts down. I am hearing that one should not rely on motherboard based RAID but I don't really want to get a dedicated RAID card. Still need a back up, a ghost. Also, some performance hit for mirroring. We could all speculate on whether it is significant but nonetheless it would be there. I am not a RAID expert but I guess it would only seem to be an issue with writes.

So I am mixed about this approach. To do it right I guess one would mirror and then back up. I think I am willing to manage some of the risk. At this point I am leaning toward one drive and backing up. The issue is where. The risk is more around inconvenience, i.e. if the drive fails I must first reinstall the OS to get to the ghost image. I might accept that risk.

Regarding the comment about RAID not being a backup. I agree. Possibly I will back up the OS/App drive to an external drive as well. This way I have two copies. I think I would be able to automate this each night to minimize the risk associated with changes since last backup.

But regarding my data RAID. I might have to accept the risk of failure here. I will have up to 750 GB of storage space and I am not sure there is much I can do right now about backing that up. Too expensive at this point but will monitor. I will have to decide what data is valuable and store on an external drive.

Now, the size of the OS/App drive. I think I will go for the 150 GB. Sounds like you feel I may need the space.

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful. Stilling thinking about this but both of you have given me something to think about.

 

[blue68f100]

I would go with a 150gig raptor for the OS and Applications. And raid 5 for data.

OS and Applications can always be reinstalled. Any update you receive via net just make a cd backup every so often.