Best backup for raid 0?

fluffmyster · 1 Mar 2011 at 22:28

Ok, this might seem like a bit of a nooby question but I have never used raid and couldn't find a clear answer on the internet for a question I've always wondered - is it possible to have two raid 0 volumes in raid 5 (so that mirroring is possible without losing performance)? Or would it be best to just get a big enough drive and perform backups at set intervals?

Thanks

rpstewart · 2 Mar 2011 at 09:02

You can mirror two RAID0 arrays using RAID0+1 (although arguably RAID10 which stripes two mirrored pairs gives better redundancy).

However the key point is that regardless of the level used RAID is not a backup solution, it's an availability solution - if you delete a file from a RAID array it's gone, with a backup it's still on the backup. So regardless of the RAID level you still need a separate backup.

Yamahahahahaha · 2 Mar 2011 at 10:24

rpstewart is completely correct regarding what you should do.

To answer your question about whether you can, yes, you can have 3 (or more) RAID0 volumes combine into a RAID5.
One drive failure would require a parity rebuild, not to mention prohibitively large amounts of IOPs wasted.

mattmos · 2 Mar 2011 at 10:55

I've just picked up a WD 2Tb USB3 essentials drive for £90, to use as an external backup for a raid 0 network drive.

Just wondering what programs people would recommend using to perform nightly backups? Preferably one that can pick up just changes once the initial copying of the drive is done.

HazardO · 2 Mar 2011 at 11:06

Acronis do a pretty full featured backup program. From partition imaging to differential backup.

DoubleCheese · 2 Mar 2011 at 12:59

I've got a 2 disk RAID0 array and a spare 1Tb internal drive to backup all my data on the array. I also have an external 1Tb drive that does the same so hopefully I've got 2 copies of my data should the RAID0 get hosed.

mattmos · 2 Mar 2011 at 14:31

Acronis looks good, but as I'm penny pinching at the moment I just downloaded Cobian Backup, first backup has gone smoothly! The various options seem to cover a lot of possibilities of how you run your backups. Will try it out for a few days and see...