Backup solution: RAID1 or Backup software?

[Ad Pro]

Hi, I have an external HD that I want to use as a backup drive.

I do not know if I should set up a RAID 1 arrangement, so my HD is always mirrored, or should I use backup software (such as SuperDuper!) to create scheduled copies of my HD.

I know that SuperDuper! creates a bootable backup, could I boot my system from the external HD if it was used as part of a RAID1.

Hope that makes sense, any other recomendations would be helpful.

 

[Silencio]

RAID 1 is not a backup. It is merely redundancy, which is not the same thing. It protects against physical failure of one of the drives, but does not protect against data corruption, directory damage, or accidental file deletion, which would instantly propagate to both drives.

Use the external drive and SuperDuper! to do occasional smart updates of your main drive. Time Machine will be a much better solution once Leopard comes out, but SuperDuper will still have plenty of uses.

 

[Ad Pro]

By RAID1 being a redundancy I presume you mean that if one drive fails the other takes over. When a replacement drive is installed is the data restored? how does the RAID1 act in the event of a drive failing?

 

[torid110]

By RAID1 being a redundancy I presume you mean that if one drive fails the other takes over. When a replacement drive is installed is the data restored? how does the RAID1 act in the event of a drive failing?

If one drive fails, you continue to work. You won't notice the failure while you're working. When you replace the failed drive, the hardware or software (depending on what you're using to create the raid set), begins to rebuild the data on the new drive, so technically, if you are in the middle of the rebuild, and the drive with the data dies, you are screwed, hence the need for a backup