[Warship]

Hey guys, I thought it would be a good idea to get a backup drive just in case one fails, so I got a drive that matched the one I already have. I got that drive, and I've done some manual backing up, but I feel that it would be better to just mirror the two drives, so if the main one fails, I don't have to reinstall Windows.

The two drives are the exact same model and size, now I want them to be in RAID 1. Wat do?

Edited:

Also, my computer might also get faster after doing this (Or does that only count when using hardware RAID?)

[PyroCF]

RAID 1 will have no boost in speed.
It will require you to format both drives and then set it up via disk manager. So if you only have those two HDDs you'll have to set RAID up via your onboard RAID controller, providing you have one.

[JohnFisher89]

you can do a software RAID, RAID 1 is mirroring 0 is speed

never do software raid unless you know what you are doing and exactly why

[B1N4RY!]

Warship posted:

Hey guys, I thought it would be a good idea to get a backup drive just in case one fails, so I got a drive that matched the one I already have. I got that drive, and I've done some manual backing up, but I feel that it would be better to just mirror the two drives, so if the main one fails, I don't have to reinstall Windows.

How often exactly, does your hard drive fails?

Also, RAID-1 is not a substitute for file backup, keep that in mind.

[bohb]

B1N4RY! posted:

How often exactly, does your hard drive fails?

RAID-1 is not a substitute for file backup, keep that in mind.

How is RAID1 not a substitute for file backup? It creates a complete redundant copy of data onto another drive, or more depending on how many drives you add to the RAID array. It's far easier than cherry picking files for individual backup, and you don't have the hours/days of downtime associated with having to reinstall everything.

RAID 0 gives you a boost in both read and write speed since the data is distributed amongst several drives, but you're fucked if one drive dies. RAID 1 sometimes takes a slight hit on write performance (depending on the controller) but usually gets faster read speeds, and if a drive dies, you still have X other copies of the drive on other drives so you can rebuild the array.

[B1N4RY!]

bohb posted:

How is RAID1 not a substitute for file backup? It creates a complete redundant copy of data onto another drive, or more depending on how many drives you add to the RAID array. It's far easier than cherry picking files for individual backup, and you don't have the hours/days of downtime associated with having to reinstall everything.

Thanks, I totally didn't know that.

I'm not talking about using RAID-1 as backup in case of a hard drive crash in the second part of my statement. Lots of people believed that they can use RAID-1 to prevent data loss in general, such as accidentally deleting a file and hoping to be able to recover it easier

[bohb]

We're taking about drive redundancy here, not someone being dumb and deleting a random file. If you delete a file on accident, use recuva, it can in most cases recover a deleted file, unless you did something stupid like read/write massive amounts of files to disk after you did it.

[B1N4RY!]

bohb posted:

We're taking about drive redundancy here, not someone being dumb and deleting a random file. If you delete a file on accident, use recuva, it can in most cases recover a deleted file, unless you did something stupid like read/write massive amounts of files to disk after you did it.

You'll be surprised on how many people believed in such conspiracy. I'm unable to determine whether l if the OP was expecting RAID-1 to function in such way or not from this thread.

[Warship]

B1N4RY! posted:

You'll be surprised on how many people believed in such conspiracy. I'm unable to determine whether l if the OP was expecting RAID-1 to function in such way or not from this thread.

I only wanted RAID so I am safe if one drive dies.

[thf]

Won't R1 give the same read boost as R0 does?

[B1N4RY!]

thf posted:

Won't R1 give the same read boost as R0 does?

That is true

[UberMensch]

RAID 1 isn't an acceptable form of backup, it IS a good form of data redundancy. Backup usually implies you can restore more than one version of a file, which is very important sometimes.

[Warship]

UberMensch posted:

RAID 1 isn't an acceptable form of backup, it IS a good form of data redundancy. Backup usually implies you can restore more than one version of a file, which is very important sometimes.

Yea I know. I use my server for backing up though.

[TheNuB]

RAID 1 is really slow. That's what I heard from my local computer store guy :3:

[B1N4RY!]

TheNuB posted:

RAID 1 is really slow. That's what I heard from my local computer store guy :3:

Slow comparing to what? Your local computer store guy is an idiot

[Generic.Monk]

TheNuB posted:

RAID 1 is really slow. That's what I heard from my local computer store guy :3:

RAID 1 is the same speed as a HDD on its own, more or less. Tell that guy to eat a dick.

[JohnEdwards]

bohb posted:

How is RAID1 not a substitute for file backup? It creates a complete redundant copy of data onto another drive, or more depending on how many drives you add to the RAID array. It's far easier than cherry picking files for individual backup, and you don't have the hours/days of downtime associated with having to reinstall everything.

RAID 0 gives you a boost in both read and write speed since the data is distributed amongst several drives, but you're fucked if one drive dies. RAID 1 sometimes takes a slight hit on write performance (depending on the controller) but usually gets faster read speeds, and if a drive dies, you still have X other copies of the drive on other drives so you can rebuild the array.

RAID is good for uptime, not backups, Backups give you protection against data loss or corruption

Edited:

RAID 5 god teir, RAID 6 is the only RAID that should even be considered "temp back up"

[Warship]

As far as I know, RAID 1 is just mirroring two harddrives?

[thf]

Warship posted:

As far as I know, RAID 1 is just mirroring two harddrives?

Yes.