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RAID storage solutions

G

grooveattack

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
511
1
Hey guys and gals..

Im currently looking into getting an external RAID for back ups and film storage. Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

Ideally i would want a 4 bay for 2 mirrored sets (i think thats right. 1+1 , 1+1) with FW800 and USB.

saw this on amazon uk but it does not say anything about being able to RAID

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drobo-Bay-F...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1RXG2T3D96G41VJWJXKM


cheers guys!
 
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I'm a great fan of the ReadyNAS range. See : http://www.readynas.com/
The original tech developers are still there even after being bought by Netgear.
They have a good range of units with very resilient firmware and a dedicated OSX forum section. Time Machine also works fine on their units.
 
My 2 cents,

First, you need storage space with back up. It could be RAID but it is not necessary.

Second, are you going to share this storage space between several Mac or other devices: media streamer (WDTV Live for example), AirPlay device, Sonos, etc ?
If so, you definitely need to look on a NAS rather than a external storage system. Another point in favor of NAS is that Gigabit Ethernet is noticeably faster than USB 2 and at least as fast as Firewire 800. On the other hand, if you want a local storage really fast you should look eSata and Thunderbolt solutions.

Third, RAID is not magic. RAID gives you drive redundancy = if one of your drive fails, you can replace it without rebuilding the whole file system for all the others drive, but:
- If the NAS/Drobo fails, you lose your data;
- If you get a virus or a corrupt file system, you lose your data;
- If you mistakenly erase some folders, you lose your data.

I have nothing against RAID and RAID with back-up is better than no RAID with back-up, but if you have to choose between the 2, you should choose back-up over RAID.
 
RAID is no substitute for backup - it only guards against a drive failure.

I have 2 identical RAID NAS units, each with more than 2 drives.
One is on-line, the other is off-line and turned on once a week for mirroring. Both have a UPS.
I also have an off-line USB drive for backup of essential data (1TB). This I mirror every few months.

I have Time machine on one of the NAS units and every week I run a new Time machine on the other.
 
Penta inferface raid system

I use this Penta interface: USB2.0, USB3.0, FireWire400, FireWire800 and eSATA
drivers less. It's hardware raid, independent from OS and it's fantastic

http://www.datoptic.com/usb-firewire-jbod-raid-enclosure.html

You can have TWO RAID1, and the 5th drive as Hot spare.
Or for more reliable and space configure five drives as RAID5+hot spare

Example: 5x 2TB HDD
a_ TWO RAID1_HS you would have 4TB usable space, where
b_ ONE RAID5+HS you would have 6TB and lots more reliable
c_ ONE RAID5 you would have 8TB space one drive failed tolerance

I would configure b if the data is critical, otherwise I would configure option c
 
i am wanting a synology 411jh setup for my itunes with 12tb sectioned off 1 part for itunes and the other for my other drives but still have my externals hd being the backup to every on the naz 2 2tb wd mybooks 1 and 1.5 seagate drives a 500gb maxtor and a western digital mybook studio 2 1tb if it was in raid rigth now its seen as a 2tb
 
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