What RAID do i need?

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 12:39

Hey guys,

I want to back up my data in my shuttle PC. It currently has one WD caviar black 1TB inside it.

I want to set up an external RAID array using two HDD's with USB 3.0.

Im just confused as to what RAID i will actually need.

Can you guys help?

Lanz · 14 Sep 2013 at 13:09

RAID1 (mirrored)

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 13:15

I was under the impression RAID1 will only work if im using two HDD's.
My main drive and the drive to copy info to.

I want to mirror my HDD inside the PC to two seperate HDD's in the enclosure. Can RAID1do this?

Sorry im a RAID n00b

RJC · 14 Sep 2013 at 13:20

In your enclosure you will need to setup two drives in RAID 1, this will Mirror the data across the drives.

Or do you want to copy the data to two drives without RAID, but you would need to this manually.

What enclosure are you looking at?

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 13:32

Hey

IcyBox RD4320StU3 Enclosure

So just to be clear...
I have my 1 HDD currently installed in my shuttle.
And i want to copy everything over to that enclosure to the two HDD's literally a carbon copy.

In essence it would look like this:

(HDD1) ====> Enclosure:

(HDD2)
↑↑↑↑↑
↓↓↓↓↓
(HDD3)

I was always under the impression RAID1 worked like this: (HDD1) >> (HDD2)

Simon42 · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:01

As an alternative use a disk imaging application such as Macrium Reflect to image the live disk to whatever backup disk whether that's internal or external.

The downside is you'll only have backups as frequent as you run/schedule Reflect. The plus points are it will require less space as it does an intelligent sector copy, and after the first backup you can take a number of incremental backups which usually take up very little space.

I use a home server as a store for disk image backups from all my PCs and laptops. This currently gives me the ability to restore any disk to the end of any day in the last two months (plus the odd older backup). RAID with mirroring or redundancy is great if you need live duplication and cannot afford to lose any recent data, but in practice I've lost more data due to human error than drive failures (most die slowly and I monitor those with Hard Disk Sentinel which can trigger a disk image backup).

Ideally a mix of RAID (other than 0) and disk imaging is the best, but if you cannot afford both then my preference is to start with disk image backups.

Threepwood · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:05

What exactly do you want to do?

Do you want to have your data saved on three devices? (your internal hard drive and both external hard drives?)

What you suggest seems a little overkill to me, if this was the case at least one of the drives should be kept separate from the others, in a safe place, not connected to anything electrical. A proper back up.

Here is an idea for you.

Buy a Hybrid 1TB HD and a cheaper enclosure to put your old drive in. Use your old drive as your backup and simply clone your internal drives image onto it on a semi regular basis.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £71.99
1 x Akasa Noir S 3.5" USB 3.0 Enclosure (AK-IC20U3-BKUK) £28.99
Total : £110.88 (includes shipping : £8.25).

This way you get to back stuff up, and you will get a speed boost on your shuttle through the new hybrid drive. And for cheaper than buying x2 drives and x1 £60 enclosure. Tbh the enclosure is not even needed either, just open your case, plug it in and copy over, then put in a safe place.

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:13

Threepwood said:
What exactly do you want to do?

Do you want to have your data saved on three devices? (your internal hard drive and both external hard drives?)

What you suggest seems a little overkill to me, if this was the case at least one of the drives should be kept separate from the others, in a safe place, not connected to anything electrical. A proper back up.

Here is an idea for you.

Buy a Hybrid 1TB HD and a cheaper enclosure to put your old drive in. Use your old drive as your backup and simply clone your internal drives image onto it on a semi regular basis.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £71.99
1 x Akasa Noir S 3.5" USB 3.0 Enclosure (AK-IC20U3-BKUK) £28.99
Total : £110.88 (includes shipping : £8.25).

This way you get to back stuff up, and you will get a speed boost on your shuttle through the new hybrid drive. And for cheaper than buying x2 drives and x1 £60 enclosure. Tbh the enclosure is not even needed either, just open your case, plug it in and copy over, then put in a safe place.

This sounds like an exellent idea! My only question is:
How am i going to initially get all my info and OS from my WD caviar to the new hybrid drive? Sorry about all the questions im a total noob when it comes to backups and images.

Threepwood · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:36

You simply connect your new drive to your system and use a clone program (like this) to clone your old drive to your new drive. Both drives will then be exactly the same.

Then you install your new drive in place of your old drive, and tuck your old drive away somewhere safe.

All this will cost is the price of the new drive and the price of a sata cable if you do not have a spare one. (new hard drive will probably come with a couple though)

You just open up the case and plug the hard drive in on the fly, the hard drive does not have to be fully installed into your case or anything.

RJC · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:39

steve1212 can you please remove the link from your post as this is classed as a competitor

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 14:48

Thanks for all the help guys

Also link removed

Sorry about that!

Best I.T advised on the web!

stev1212 · 14 Sep 2013 at 15:03

Threepwood said:
You simply connect your new drive to your system and use a clone program (like this) to clone your old drive to your new drive. Both drives will then be exactly the same.

Then you install your new drive in place of your old drive, and tuck your old drive away somewhere safe.

All this will cost is the price of the new drive and the price of a sata cable if you do not have a spare one. (new hard drive will probably come with a couple though)

You just open up the case and plug the hard drive in on the fly, the hard drive does not have to be fully installed into your case or anything.

Silly question im sure but il ask anways... This isnt going to make windows freak out is it and think it's being pirated? I have my Product key somewhere if it asks for one to verify so thats no problem, i just cant be bothered having to look for it

It's win 8 64BIT btw

Threepwood · 14 Sep 2013 at 15:24

Nothing to worry about, it will be fine.

Off the top of my head, to make sure things go smooth, when you have cloned your old drive onto the new, remember which sata slot the old drive is plugged into and plug your new drive into the same sata slot. Windows can be funny like that.