Complex RAID query...

rpwarwood

rpwarwood

rpwarwood

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27 Jan 2004
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115
Location
Birmingham
I currently have all my data stored on a single 1TB HDD (only two types of people in the world, and all that...i'm one of those whose never lost anything). My OS is running on a separate 300GB HDD. In total I have about 1.1TB of data I need to keep. I'm planning on buying two 2TB HDD to create a RAID1 array to go in my as yet unbuilt system...

My plan is then, to remove my 1TB HDD, and use my current mother board (ASUS P5W DH Deluxe) to create the RAID1 array. Once Array is setup and working, copy the data from the 1TB to the raid, plus any info I want kept from the main HDD. I then plan to build a new comp, using an SSD as the primary drive and the RAID for storage.

My querys are: Will I simply be able to transfer the RAID to my new computer, or will there be an issue with the fact I used the on-board RAID controller?

Is there another way to do this, given that I won't have built my new computer before I am due to sell my old computer that won't cause me grief in the long run...

Thanks for taking the time to help :)
 
If the RAID controller is from the same family as the new one it should go across without issue.

You do realise that RAID is not backup though? RAID provides hardware redundancy and thus uptime, it shouldn't be used for keeping data safe as so many things can go wrong.
 
rpwarwood said:
Ummm...no. I was under the impression RAID1 provided backup by duplicating the data on the harddrive?
Click to expand...

It does duplicate the data.

If one drive failed you would still have your data.

But if something serious happens to your PC you could lose both drives in one go and you've lost everything.

A "proper" backup would have the data duplicated somewhere else such as an external drive.
 
No, raid is not a backup


Consider:
Deleting a file (gone on both)
A catastrophic powersurge
Flood
Fire
Formatting the wrong thing when upgrading
Theft
Etc etc

Just get a USB drive of 2tb and back up regulary
For bonus points buy 2 and keep one at work/friends house

Raid 1 provides redundancy ('backup') for the purposes of maintaining uptime. Will you lose money if you have to have downtime when restoring your data? How many users are using the data stored on the raid?
 
Riiiiight... Ok, time and lost-money are not an issue with regards to losing data, provided i can get it back in under a week its all good, so based on whats being said, I should go with a manual backup to another drive and store it somewhere else. Given this, I'll probably use Norton Ghost and use the second drive as a backup drive stored at work. If I ever feel the need I can buy another Disc and RAID at a later date.

Thanks people, this saved me potentially a lot of effort :)
 
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