Mac Pro Raid 5 - Same As Drobo?

[sammyman]

Can you setup a mac pro in raid 5 to make a similar setup that drobo uses where everything is safe in case one hard drive crashes?

I am really new to RAID so I don't really understand everything, or how to best setup a mac pro to protect data. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Badger^2]

you have a macpro now? what kind of drives? internal? external?

how much data are we talking about? 500 gigs? more? less?

RAID 5 is most likely overkill for your needs.

 

[sammyman]

We are getting one soon. Right now we have about 1tb of pictures. We are wondering if we should get a drobo to keep the data safe, or setup some kind of raid system in a mac pro to keep everything safe.

 

[giffut]

If ...

... you have more than one computer, the Drobo would be the better choice, as you can connect it to anyone via USB/Firewire/eSata/Ethernet (depending on the model of Drobo and the I/O needs of you).

Also the Drobo is somewhat different from RAID 5, as you can drop in new harddrives and the device itself will rearrange the data itself - any RAID level doesn´t do this: you will need to make this on your own: http://www.drobo.com/resources/beyondraid.php

The Drobo has a good track record in stability and it´s priced fair. A good hardware RAID 5 card will cost you as much as one Drobo unit itself.

 

[Badger^2]

You dont need a RAID card to get a RAID 5 going.

Drobos get mixed reviews on the other Mac boards I frequent.

With a MP and its 4 drive bays:

Bay 1: boot drive
Bay 2: backup of boot drive (use a drive you already have?)
Bay 3: 1.5 or 2TB storage drive
Bay 4: 1.5 or 2TB backup of storage drive

I mention 1.5Tb drives, since they are $99, and 2TB drives are still $180...

And you are covered.

You dont need a MP to accomplish a good backup, you could run an external RAID 5 box off of anything with a FW800 port

Something like this: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/

Add 4 1TB or 4 1.5TB drives and you are done and fully backed up.

There are other cases like this, about the same cost.