Can someone please describe to me the differences in external drives..

[mac000]

Can someone please explain to me what exactly you would use different types of hard drives for http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/

ie. what for/when to use RAID configurations vs. other, I've always just known one external hard drive and that just meant "extra space", so what exactly are those other hard drives used for? what's suppose to be put on them?

 

[T-Stex]

I'd say that, as far as I know, if you're just looking to get an external drive to use for general backups and extra space, you don't need to worry about RAID at all. A single drive is usually what most people need. However, if you're more serious about backing up data, you could look into a RAID system. There are several flavors of RAID, but the most common are probably 0 and 1.

RAID 0 doesn't provide any redundancy, but simply spreads your data out over more than 1 disk. This allows for several disks to be used to get data, spreading the load out, and getting your data faster. However, this means that if a drive fails, your data on that drive is lost.

RAID 1 provides an extra level of redundancy by simply mirroring the contents of one drive onto another. This means that if one drive fails, the contents of the other drive still contains the data, and no data is lost.

There are several other types of RAID that allow for other ways to back up data, but they would likely be overkill for most people.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Linkety to a great website that describes all the different kinds of RAID arrays.

 

[T-Stex]

Linkety to a great website that describes all the different kinds of RAID arrays.

Interesting. Wish I'd known about that site a few semesters ago when I was studying the stuff. I've found that many sites make it really easy to understand things that textbooks make look complicated.