Time Machine drive advice (RAID0 v Slower single drive)

[ithinkitsnice]

I'm a graphics professional taking the plunge into a Mac Pro. After some research, this is my notional drive setup:

• ??GB SSD Boot Drive in the optical bay
• 2 x 1TB 7200rpm SATA in RAID0, partitioned for 1.Data and 2.Scratch (therefore <2TB data)

I obviously need to make sure that RAID0 is safely backed up. I've got an online backup service in case my house burns down and I'll be backing up individual projects onto optical media, but I will of course want to Time Machine the Data partition of the RAID.

Now, for that Time machine drive I can either create another RAID0 from the same kind of drives (with the risk that entails), or for about the same money get a 2TB 5400rpm (leaving a drive bay free for future use, possibly another backup).

I'm no expert — hence me asking — but it seems a no-brainer to me; I can't see why I should not go for the 2TB 5400rpm drive option, as there is less chance of failure and speed is not really an issue for TM. Basically I'm looking for anyone that knows better to tell me if I'm right or wrong?

Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

Backup drive doesn't have to be fast. RAID0 = twice as big risk of data failure, so I would just grab single 2TB

 

[nanofrog]

Backup drive doesn't have to be fast. RAID0 = twice as big risk of data failure, so I would just grab single 2TB

Exactly.

One of the Western Digital Green Power 2TB units would be perfect as a backup disk (WD20EARS) and is inexpensive as well ($140USD).

 

[Hellhammer]

One of the Western Digital Green Power 2TB units would be perfect as a backup disk (WD20EARS) and is inexpensive as well ($140USD).

That's what I recommend as well. Greens are great for storing data such as backups and they aren't that slow, they get around 80MB/s read&write speed but they are cheap, quiet, power efficient and reliable. All what a good backup drive needs.

 

[ithinkitsnice]

Great, that's what I thought. Thanks for the advice.

 

[FireWire2]

RAID5 vs RAID0

Instead of using RAID0, you may look at the hardware RAID5, it will be fast and protected data.

http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/5-bay-hardware-raid-enclosure-ebox-r5.htm

You can use the supplied PCI bracket connect to the SATA ports (behind the fan) it will give you 250MB/sec without messing with drivers - just plug and play

 

[SmilesLots]

I recommend an external drive that you can turn the power off. Green drives are great there as well. I got two of the Fantom Green Drives back when they were expensive - paid almost $150 each. I have seen them recently for under $100 - and that is with enclosure and power supply.

For speed, I got a dual drive enclosure from OWC that has sata connectivity. Hooked it up through a Sonnet E4P four port sata card, installed two 2TB Seagate drives as raid0 to back up the internal two 2TB Seagate drives also as raid0. Very fast. Backed up 25 gigs data last night and was surprised it took almost a whole minute.