Hi all,
I'm seeking a bit of advice before I set up some RAID1 storage. Though before I go any further let me just say now that I know RAID1 isn't a backup method, which is pretty much why I've never used it before. I have a good system of revolving/offsite backups involving multiple Time Capsules and external hard drives, but I'm soon going to be setting up a media centre Mac and I realised that my normal backup routines will be overkill for this Mac, because it will contain no personal data – just some TV recordings and iTunes purchases, the latter of which can mostly be redownloaded if needed.
So I don't particularly need any protection against user error (I'll survive if I accidentally delete a recording of Doctor Who…) but I'd just like to mitigate against technical malfunction (mainly hard drive failure) as seamlessly as possible. I reckon that RAID1 fits the bill just right for this, because it's not something I'll have to manage – unless a drive fails and I have to swap/rebuild of course, but in that case it's done its job.
With that in mind I'm considering a few different methods for configuring some RAID1 storage, and I'd appreciate the community's thoughts on how best to do this. I don't need high speed or huge amounts of capacity – just, say, 1TB of usable safe storage. To that end, I have a few questions:
1. Which would be better – one external dual-HDD hardware RAID enclosure, one external dual-HDD JBOD enclosure using macOS software RAID, or two external single-HDD enclosures combined using macOS RAID?
(My thinking is that the last option would be best, because with the first two a failure in the SATA bridge of the enclosure could result in corruption on both drives, whereas with the third option it's unlikely that the SATA bridge for both enclosures would fail simultaneously, so I should be able to rebuild the RAID.)
2. Which external connection method (TB, FW800, USB3) would be best for reliability – by which I mean least likely to result in corrupt data, spurious ejections, or anything else you can think of?
(My hunch is that TB/FW might be better as I generally have a low opinion of USB reliability, but I can't really quantify that so maybe I'm just being silly.)
3. Which enclosure/drive type would be most reliable: 3.5" with external PSU, or 2.5" bus-powered?
(I'm torn with this; conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that 3.5" is the way to go, but if I go for 2.5" then the lack of a separate power supply means there's one fewer point of failure in the setup.)
Any input most gratefully received!
I'm seeking a bit of advice before I set up some RAID1 storage. Though before I go any further let me just say now that I know RAID1 isn't a backup method, which is pretty much why I've never used it before. I have a good system of revolving/offsite backups involving multiple Time Capsules and external hard drives, but I'm soon going to be setting up a media centre Mac and I realised that my normal backup routines will be overkill for this Mac, because it will contain no personal data – just some TV recordings and iTunes purchases, the latter of which can mostly be redownloaded if needed.
So I don't particularly need any protection against user error (I'll survive if I accidentally delete a recording of Doctor Who…) but I'd just like to mitigate against technical malfunction (mainly hard drive failure) as seamlessly as possible. I reckon that RAID1 fits the bill just right for this, because it's not something I'll have to manage – unless a drive fails and I have to swap/rebuild of course, but in that case it's done its job.
With that in mind I'm considering a few different methods for configuring some RAID1 storage, and I'd appreciate the community's thoughts on how best to do this. I don't need high speed or huge amounts of capacity – just, say, 1TB of usable safe storage. To that end, I have a few questions:
1. Which would be better – one external dual-HDD hardware RAID enclosure, one external dual-HDD JBOD enclosure using macOS software RAID, or two external single-HDD enclosures combined using macOS RAID?
(My thinking is that the last option would be best, because with the first two a failure in the SATA bridge of the enclosure could result in corruption on both drives, whereas with the third option it's unlikely that the SATA bridge for both enclosures would fail simultaneously, so I should be able to rebuild the RAID.)
2. Which external connection method (TB, FW800, USB3) would be best for reliability – by which I mean least likely to result in corrupt data, spurious ejections, or anything else you can think of?
(My hunch is that TB/FW might be better as I generally have a low opinion of USB reliability, but I can't really quantify that so maybe I'm just being silly.)
3. Which enclosure/drive type would be most reliable: 3.5" with external PSU, or 2.5" bus-powered?
(I'm torn with this; conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that 3.5" is the way to go, but if I go for 2.5" then the lack of a separate power supply means there's one fewer point of failure in the setup.)
Any input most gratefully received!