Storage advice needed - any help appreciated!

[Shahmatt]

Hi all,

I have an older desktop computer containing a two 500GB HDD and one 250GB HDD (not the computer in my profile). One 500GB appears to be failing so I have transferred all data to the remaining 500GB and 250GB HDDs.

Since these are old HDDs I would like to purchase a new single storage drive as primary. I also need a solution for backing up data.

Normally I would have considered the following (based on my now outdated knowledge):

1. 250GB SSD reliable for Windows, Software etc.
2. Two WD Red 2TB HDDs paired in RAID as an internal backup solution

However I heard somewhere that Samsung has released a HDD with SSD like speeds but not sure about the model, price and where to buy.

Also if I want to do external backup should I buy a HDD casing and do backup? Also I don't understand NAS systems: why are they better?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[gld998]

Hi all,

I have an older desktop computer containing a two 500GB HDD and one 250GB HDD (not the computer in my profile). One 500GB appears to be failing so I have transferred all data to the remaining 500GB and 250GB HDDs.

Since these are old HDDs I would like to purchase a new single storage drive as primary. I also need a solution for backing up data.

Normally I would have considered the following (based on my now outdated knowledge):

1. 250GB SSD reliable for Windows, Software etc.
Yes. very realiable.
2. Two WD Red 2TB HDDs paired in RAID as an internal backup solution
Yes, depending on what OS are u running.
However I heard somewhere that Samsung has released a HDD with SSD like speeds but not sure about the model, price and where to buy.

Also if I want to do external backup should I buy a HDD casing and do backup? Also I don't understand NAS systems: why are they better?

Any advice is appreciated.

Just sell the old hardisk and get a 2TB x 2 NEW and mirror it in windows.

Then buy an external hardisk like seagate/WD 4~2TB then backup once a month or whatever time u need via simple xcopy or teracopy.

NAS is just a waste of money for such a small backup. NAS is only useful when u hava backup of backup, meaning the hardisk is configured as mirrored in NAS, where one hardisk fail, there is another safe copy.

 

[lcheowl]

Hi all,


2. Two WD Red 2TB HDDs paired in RAID as an internal backup solution

However I heard somewhere that Samsung has released a HDD with SSD like speeds but not sure about the model, price and where to buy.

Also if I want to do external backup should I buy a HDD casing and do backup? Also I don't understand NAS systems: why are they better?

Any advice is appreciated.

Raid is not designed for backup.

Did you consider what if, you accidentally delete a file, or a corruption take place, how are you doing to retrieve back the file?

Raid is designed for redundancy (and speed), that is if one hard disk fail, you still can access to your data however, if a deletion or corruption of file take place, Raid will not help you. In fact, after raid you system, you still need a backup solution.

I will advise you save the $, buying one big hdd for internal storage and a smaller external disk to backup the important data.

 

[Shahmatt]

Just sell the old hardisk and get a 2TB x 2 NEW and mirror it in windows.

Thank you kindly for the comprehensive advice.

Two 2TB HDDs for internal backup as a mirrored volume - is this the same effect as Intel RST based software RAID?

So total purchases:
1. One 250GB SSD - Kingstong 240GB V300 (Tradepac - $118)?
2. Two 2TB HDDs as internal backup storage - is it worthwhile buying WD Red for this purpose? or other colors/ brands/normal HDD is good enough?
3. One Normal HDD - Toshiba 2TB ($92)?

 

[Shahmatt]

Raid is not designed for backup.

Did you consider what if, you accidentally delete a file, or a corruption take place, how are you doing to retrieve back the file?

Raid is designed for redundancy (and speed), that is if one hard disk fail, you still can access to your data however, if a deletion or corruption of file take place, Raid will not help you. In fact, after raid you system, you still need a backup solution.

I will advise you save the $, buying one big hdd for internal storage and a smaller external disk to backup the important data.

With my (in-profile) computer I have 1 SSD, 1 working HDD and 2 WD Red paired in RAID for redundancy.

When I want to store data for long term keeping I transfer from working HDD to the WD RAID. I do not use the WD RAID for working purposes. It is only a store.

I do not have an external backup of my WD RAID setup - but maybe this would also be good to do. Any opinion on this arrangement? I hope to do something similar for the first post computer.

 

[lcheowl]

With my (in-profile) computer I have 1 SSD, 1 working HDD and 2 WD Red paired in RAID for redundancy.

When I want to store data for long term keeping I transfer from working HDD to the WD RAID. I do not use the WD RAID for working purposes. It is only a store.

I do not have an external backup of my WD RAID setup - but maybe this would also be good to do. Any opinion on this arrangement? I hope to do something similar for the first post computer.

If I'm you, I will use the RAID1 (2 WD) as my working drive. If one hdd fail, I still can work on it and use the 'working HDD' for long term storage.

you can read this article

http://www.petemarovichimages.com/2013/11/24/never-use-a-raid-as-your-backup-system/

 

[Shahmatt]

If I'm you, I will use the RAID1 (2 WD) as my working drive. If one hdd fail, I still can work on it and use the 'working HDD' for long term storage.

you can read this article

http://www.petemarovichimages.com/2013/11/24/never-use-a-raid-as-your-backup-system/

Thanks for the advice and article. Something worth thinking about.