Spec me a HD for RAID 1 Please

Twirlywoos · 14 Aug 2012 at 20:31

Hi,

My current HD http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-077-HI&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955
has started making tappet noises. I have now been sent RMA instructions for a replacement but I will only get it when I send my current HD back.

I now intend to go RAID 1 so that the replacement one can be mirrored as I can't afford to loose over a TB's worth of data. So which one do you recommend please?

The HD is used for games and movies. I don't want another Hitatchi as I don't want the same thing happening again.

Thanks

rpstewart · 14 Aug 2012 at 21:10

1) Generally with RAID you want to keep the drives the same. It can be done with mismatched drives but it's not common.

2) RAID1 is not a backup solution, it's an availability solution. All it protects you against is a drive failure. If you want a decent backup use a second drive independently and either clone or sync the source drive to it. This also gets round point 1 if you want to go with a different brand.

3) The failure rates for different brands are pretty much the same. HDDs of all brands fail, if I stopped using a brand the first time I had a problem I would have run out of manufacturers about 10 years ago.

Twirlywoos · 14 Aug 2012 at 23:24

I was told raid 1 is the way to go:

RAID 1 is a mirror. Two identical sized drives giving you the capacity of one. (ie 2 x 3Tb drives in mirror/RAID1 means you have one drive with 3Tb of storage showing)

So are you saying that in order to make a backup I don't need Raid and I can get a hard drive like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-256-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955

What would I need to do that backup/clone? (sorry I'm new to this part of PC's)

Ta

bremen1874 · 15 Aug 2012 at 00:14

As above, RAID1 protects against a single drive failure. It doesn't protect against fire, flood, accidental deletion, theft, etc.

If it’s just games and movies you want to protect then RAID1 could be appropriate. It’ll protect you from a drive failure and if there is a disaster it should be possible to recreate the data. It has the advantage that once it’s setup you should more-or-less be able to forget about it.

If it’s data of a more irreplaceable nature then some sort of external backup solution is called for. An external USB connected HDD is the simplest option (stored somewhere safe between backups).

The best option will depend on how much you care about the data and how much you're willing to spend (money & time) to protect it.

Twirlywoos · 15 Aug 2012 at 16:47

would this drive be fine?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-097-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=

or does the spin speeds need to be the same? My hitatchi is 7200rpm and the samsung one is 5400rpm.

Justintime · 15 Aug 2012 at 16:54

rpstewart said:
1) Generally with RAID you want to keep the drives the same. It can be done with mismatched drives but it's not common.

.

Have heard it the other way around as well, and not from 'random' people, people like me who work in IT at locations with massive data systems.

Some swear that you need to keep it the same while other like to mix drive brands in case a bad batch or a model develops future common problems and i've certainly seen at least one case where a particular model developed a problem and its siblings went within days as well, turned out to be a known issue with drive firmware and controller used, had it not been a mixed drive system all the downtime for backup recovery could've been longer.

majnu said:
would this drive be fine?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-097-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=

or does the spin speeds need to be the same? My hitatchi is 7200rpm and the samsung one is 5400rpm.

You'd do better not mixing rpm, it'll likely work and you'll be limited by the slowest drive but why do it.

PistolPete · 15 Aug 2012 at 18:53

Justintime said:
[snip]

Most of the time you just order a type of drive (by size, capacity, format and sometimes speed) and the supplier send you whatever they have - the actual drive itself can be from any number of manufacturers.

This has been the case as long as I remember with Compaq/HP, IBM, Sun, & Fujitsu as well as our SAN suppliers.

Justintime · 15 Aug 2012 at 19:23

PistolPete said:
Most of the time you just order a type of drive (by size, capacity, format and sometimes speed) and the supplier send you whatever they have - the actual drive itself can be from any number of manufacturers.

This has been the case as long as I remember with Compaq/HP, IBM, Sun, & Fujitsu as well as our SAN suppliers.

Same with us. I also mix brands at home, same capacity and rpm of course.

Twirlywoos · 17 Aug 2012 at 09:57

I took your advice and went for the same one (Hitatchi) as you said all drives are likely to fail regardless of brand name. I would have went for the caviar black but it was too pricey at nearly £50 more. Anyway the drives arrived now, so should I just set up RAID 1 in bios and it will start to mirror the files automatically?

Justintime · 17 Aug 2012 at 14:31

From experience it's dependant on hardware/software. Most onboard and hardware "fake-raid" controllers I've used allowed me to RAID1 after the fact without rebuilding and creating an array from fresh, but not always so check first. I'd backup the data anyhow as you could well end up mirroring the wrong disk (heh).