Hey everyone, I'm trying to decide on a cost effect RAID system for my Mac Pro. I do professional audio as I am a freelance composer/sound designer, and my data is very important. I currently back-up to a cloud (Which is slow, and still won't back up my OS X system data), so I have one solution, and I try to back up to other disks when possible, but I would love to have an external system that could completely mirror all of my internal drives. I posted this somewhere else, but I'm going to try and summarize what I've concluded here:
I have 4 internals. I would love each and every one of them to be mirrored to an external harddrive. This is something that I would like: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2T4.0S/
It is a bit more than what I want to spend, but I think it is a solid solution. The disadvantage is that although it has a hardware RAID built into the unit, I cannot set it to mirror my internal drives (as it would actually do a RAID1 mirror within itself, therefore halving the amount of storage). This is NOT what I want.
So here is my question. Can I buy a quad hard drive eSATA RAID solution (With or without a built in hardware RAID), and use disk utility to mirror all of my internal harddrives to this new unit? My main issue is performance, easy of use, and security. I don't want reminders, I don't want to schedule a backup, I want a direct mirror at all times but I do not want it to be affecting my current work. The reason I want a RAID system is for redundancy, to prevent lost work when a drive fails. I have measures installed on my computer that warn me of failures, and I'm familiar of the sound of an ill hard drive
In fact, I've had 3 drives recently crap out on me, but I was lucky enough to clone then in time with no lost data.
Now, since I asked that question, my second question is, do I now need a RAID card with 4 eSATA ports, or can I just use an eSATA extender from the extra eSATA port on my mother board (3,1 - 2008 mac pro)? I ask this because, if I get a solution such as the Mercury Qx2, I won't be using it's built in RAID switches, I'd have it set to see all drives and then use disk utility or something else to do the RAID.
I'm sorry if I seem a bit lost, but I've never done a RAID or have really looked into them. My work at home is less than 50% of my income, but as I've done more and more projects I really need a solid, professional solution to having redundant drives.
Any help would be appreciated, I'm doing all the research I can but if I can get a few questions answered I think I'll be well on my way to figuring out what I need! Thanks
I have 4 internals. I would love each and every one of them to be mirrored to an external harddrive. This is something that I would like: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2T4.0S/
It is a bit more than what I want to spend, but I think it is a solid solution. The disadvantage is that although it has a hardware RAID built into the unit, I cannot set it to mirror my internal drives (as it would actually do a RAID1 mirror within itself, therefore halving the amount of storage). This is NOT what I want.
So here is my question. Can I buy a quad hard drive eSATA RAID solution (With or without a built in hardware RAID), and use disk utility to mirror all of my internal harddrives to this new unit? My main issue is performance, easy of use, and security. I don't want reminders, I don't want to schedule a backup, I want a direct mirror at all times but I do not want it to be affecting my current work. The reason I want a RAID system is for redundancy, to prevent lost work when a drive fails. I have measures installed on my computer that warn me of failures, and I'm familiar of the sound of an ill hard drive
In fact, I've had 3 drives recently crap out on me, but I was lucky enough to clone then in time with no lost data.Now, since I asked that question, my second question is, do I now need a RAID card with 4 eSATA ports, or can I just use an eSATA extender from the extra eSATA port on my mother board (3,1 - 2008 mac pro)? I ask this because, if I get a solution such as the Mercury Qx2, I won't be using it's built in RAID switches, I'd have it set to see all drives and then use disk utility or something else to do the RAID.
I'm sorry if I seem a bit lost, but I've never done a RAID or have really looked into them. My work at home is less than 50% of my income, but as I've done more and more projects I really need a solid, professional solution to having redundant drives.
Any help would be appreciated, I'm doing all the research I can but if I can get a few questions answered I think I'll be well on my way to figuring out what I need! Thanks