Need help Deciding on Raid Set up.

Evockzi

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Edit: Going to simplify the Question.

I am looking for either redundancy against Physical Failure or Back up against Physical Failure, I'm not worried about viruses or anything.

Performance is just a boost, I'm not a super heavy gamer anymore so I can handle an extra couple seconds load, more of my Pickyness comes down to the FPS, and my Eyefinity set up not the Second or two of Load time. BUT I do worry about losing all of my Data.

So I don't want to go with Raid 1 since its absolutely useless for my application.

I currently have 1 WD 1TB WD1001FALS, Unfortunately one of the more expensive discs compared to other 500 or 640 models, so setting up a Raid 5 or Raid 10 with this disc would require a bit more $$$.

Reason I would not want to use a Raid 0 would be No redundancy between the two discs even if I were to say use two new 500gb in Raid 0 and this disc as a 100% Back up, so at that point I would feel more comfortable just adding 1 more disc and just accepting the 360 or 500GB Slack since 1TB is more then enough for me for life.

I do not plan on blowing 200$+ on a PCI Controller and would be using my Mainboards controller. (Maximus Formula 3)
And I would not have the xtra $ to blow on a UPS.

So bit difficult at this point looking at my Options.

Essentially I am looking to get what Performance I can without risking Data, I want to do a Raid Array because I wouldn't feel as if a Back up disc is going to waste just mirroring my Main disc, Given that though I doing a Raid Array with my hardware circumstances I don't want to risk killing drives needlessly in say Raid 5 or Raid 10, Due to AC failure or Mobo Crash... etc?
 
Solution
RAID 1 should be fine but you would have to buy another 1TB drive of that exact model. Then you would need a third drive to back up your computer to. Then create the mirror RAID. Then restore your computer on the RAID.

Unfortunatly creating a RAID destoys the volume (and your data with it) and creates a new one.

The cheapest method might be to get Acronis and buy an external hard drive and then do weekly backups.
RAID 1 should be fine but you would have to buy another 1TB drive of that exact model. Then you would need a third drive to back up your computer to. Then create the mirror RAID. Then restore your computer on the RAID.

Unfortunatly creating a RAID destoys the volume (and your data with it) and creates a new one.

The cheapest method might be to get Acronis and buy an external hard drive and then do weekly backups.
 
Solution

Evockzi

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Thats the best option I'm thinking of right now is just buying a very Large External, 1.5TB or 1TB. Something to do a 100% back up and leave some room to store extra data I don't want on my Main Drive, Movies etc. I already have alot of my Non-Expendable Data, Music, Etc stored on a 250GB External, Reason I don't want to do Raid 1 is it just doesn't increase performance enough to make it beneficial.

If I was to go for raid 1 I would feel alot more comfortable with just a Large External to Back up rather then just a Mirror against Physical faults.

Then if I was already to be buying 1 drive I would at that point basically be thinking Why not buy 1 or 2 more and just go all out for Raid 5 or 10?

Another though I had was Doing a 2x 500GB Raid 0 with my 1TB as Back up.

I just am a bit against buying a big drive for back up since I'm only protecting the system from Physical Faults not anything being stolen or being destroyed by a Virus,


essentially CAN I safely do a Raid 5 or 10, Or Raid 0 + Backup, on an Onboard Controller, Without a UPS, with possibility of say a crash happening.
 

Evockzi

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I found a good deal on New egg for a 1.5TB External, only 89$. I would have been able to find just a bare drive for that price but if I was backing up I would prefer it be Portable =)
 

MRFS

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> And I would not have the xtra $ to blow on a UPS.


Let me show you something from my primary workstation:

PowerChute.Performance.Summary.JPG



Blackout: 7 times

Time on battery: 11 hours, 48 minutes


"A word to the wise is sufficient." -- Anonymous


MRFS