MP All Models Is raid 0 reliable?

[ajem]

Hi all,

How do you use raid0 disks? Is there reliability issues to use raid0 for main storage (everything will be synced to Dropbox)?

I recently acquired highpoint 7101a-01 and 4x 970 Evo Plus; was wondering whether to migrate all of my working files to the raid0 drive. Everything is backed up on Dropbox, though I am afraid of corrupted drives overwriting Dropbox copies of the files as well.

How do you guys use raid0?

 

[OS6-OSX]

1. Using RAID 0 with 4 spinners in slots 1-4 (Video)
2. Using RAID 0 with 4 spinners in an external mini-SAS box via ATTO R644 (Music)

Each has 2 backups that are kept here just to be safe!

 

[ssmed]

Raid 0 is about speed enhancement. A decent ssd will provide that in almost all domestic and many business settings. I would go for RAID 5 or 6 with decent drives, not fill it up completely and have some fault security. Do have the instructions about how to restore the RAID safe and available.

Also be aware that some current RAID solutions will not work on Apple Silicon - the disks won't mount.

 

[Mikael H]

Hi all,

How do you use raid0 disks? Is there reliability issues to use raid0 for main storage (everything will be synced to Dropbox)?

I recently acquired highpoint 7101a-01 and 4x 970 Evo Plus; was wondering whether to migrate all of my working files to the raid0 drive. Everything is backed up on Dropbox, though I am afraid of corrupted drives overwriting Dropbox copies of the files as well.

How do you guys use raid0?

If your data is important to you, spend the required money on a decent backup solution; preferably storing data both on premises for quick recovery and off-site in case of disaster.
Dropbox is, as you note, a syncing service. You will instead want something that actually stores multiple versions of your data, and which allows you to perform point-in-time recovery.
Even using the built-in Time Machine to a separate disk is better than just syncing files.

As for reliability of a RAID:
With RAID0 your data is dependent on all disks. All of your drives have a certain chance to fail in a given amount of time, and the failure of just one of them will make your entire volume fail, so basically your expected failure rate with four drives is four times that of each single drive. This is not a huge problem if you have sufficient backups and can live without your computers for a few days while you purchase a new drive and restore from backups.

When it comes to what RAID level to choose:
I still don't trust RAID5 for larger disk sizes: You have to factor in the risk of a second drive in a (probably aging) RAID set failing before you've managed to replace the original failed unit and repaired the missing blocks from the remaining drives and parity information.

For pure I/O performance especially with many writes, RAID10 (striped mirrors) is still the recommended choice. For read-heavy performance, RAID6 may be a better choice depending on your controller and number of drives.

 

[phrehdd]

If your data is important to you, spend the required money on a decent backup solution; preferably storing data both on premises for quick recovery and off-site in case of disaster.
Dropbox is, as you note, a syncing service. You will instead want something that actually stores multiple versions of your data, and which allows you to perform point-in-time recovery.
Even using the built-in Time Machine to a separate disk is better than just syncing files.

As for reliability of a RAID:
With RAID0 your data is dependent on all disks. All of your drives have a certain chance to fail in a given amount of time, and the failure of just one of them will make your entire volume fail, so basically your expected failure rate with four drives is four times that of each single drive. This is not a huge problem if you have sufficient backups and can live without your computers for a few days while you purchase a new drive and restore from backups.

When it comes to what RAID level to choose:
I still don't trust RAID5 for larger disk sizes: You have to factor in the risk of a second drive in a (probably aging) RAID set failing before you've managed to replace the original failed unit and repaired the missing blocks from the remaining drives and parity information.

For pure I/O performance especially with many writes, RAID10 (striped mirrors) is still the recommended choice. For read-heavy performance, RAID6 may be a better choice depending on your controller and number of drives.

I have used RAID 5 for years and was, to be blunt, lucky. Pure luck no catastrophe. Will less available volume, I would go with your advocacy of RAID 10. Even better if there is a standby drive in case one fails. RAID 5 is not a matter of a failed drive but whether the system will restore properly. That can be sadly hit and miss. RAID 10 repair in comparison is far faster and easier to do. My next RAID will be 10 and looking forward to it.