To RAID 1 or not to RAID 1 - that is the question...

[Nubben]

Hi All,

Ok, brief background to my query. I have two Western Digital Thunderbolt RAID enclosures with two HDDs in each (each drive is 3TBs) so 6TB in total per enclosure. It is software-based RAID 1.

I am booting in and out of Windows through Bootcamp and unfortunately the MacRAID driver I have installed has caused more problems than I anticipated (with corrupt RAID set-up on one of the enclosures).

So, I backed up my data and deleted the RAIDs on both enclosures. However, when I did that Disk Utility simply stated that if I deleted the RAID 1s the two drives would show up as two drives but the data would still be intact! I thought if one deleted the RAID all data would be lost?

Now my problem. As I am now backing up my drives manually using CronoSync I get two instances of the same file, folder or whatever when using Spotlight - quite annoying - so would like to go back to RAID 1 if I can.

Let's say that one drive would fail or the RAID gets corrupted. Can I simply take out one drive and use it on its own? I mean, is the data intact on the second drive as the computer writes to two drives simultaneously - if I take out the drive it's just as a normal drive - it does not contain any RAID info?

Many thanks in advance!

Regards.

 

[MCAsan]

I don't know about the complications of Bootcamp and Winodws. On my LaCie 2Big 6TB, if it is running in RAID 1 with 3TB mirrored....I can remove one drive and continue to use the remaining drive. The purpose of RAID 1 is to provide high availability compared to a single drive. RAID 1 is in no way is a substitute for doing backups. RAID 1 + backups = good idea if you have the drives.

 

[Nubben]

Thanks MCAsan. Is your LaCie drive hardware RAID? Maybe that's different than software like I have?

 

[paulrbeers]

Thanks MCAsan. Is your LaCie drive hardware RAID? Maybe that's different than software like I have?

So the issue you have is that you can't see the RAID 1 from the Windows Side (or at least having difficulty doing so?)....

Couldn't you create something like a RAID 1 @ 2.5TB HFS and leave 500GB as Fat32 oso you don't have to use MacRAID? Do you really need access to your RAID 1 when in windows thru bootcamp?

 

[Nubben]

Hi Paul,

I don't actually need the RAID in Windows. Win did however cause problems with one of my RAIDs.

I just want to be able to (if a failure of one of the drives in the RAID 1) take it out and put it ina dock or whatever to continue using it (and then restore).

I have read about enabling write-throughs and stuff but don't really understand any of it.

Regards.

 

[MCAsan]

Thanks MCAsan. Is your LaCie drive hardware RAID? Maybe that's different than software like I have?

The choice between RAID 0, RAID 1, or JBOD is all in Disk Utility. No special driver or hardware from LaCie.

 

[h9826790]

The whole idea of RAID 1 is to keep your system alive. Therefore, you can definitely take one HDD out and leave the remaining HDD in to run the system. OR take a HDD out and then use it as a stand alone HDD. The only problem is when you put that 2 HDDs back in a Mac at the same time, then your system should ask you which one is the master and sync them again.