External low cost RAID solutions?

[veteze]

Has anyone messed with this kinda stuff? Any tips, tricks? I want to go to a multi-drive redundant system of sorts. i.e. - two (or 4 drives) with backups of data on each drive... It doesn't need to be hot swapable... This would be for small office usage... This isn't for keeping my mp3 collection safe and sound it's for keeping work stuff safe and sound... which can amount up to the 10s of gigs over time. And don't give me any grief about how offsite backup is the safest kind. If I get big enough for that then I'll look into it.

Any ideas?

I don't like the idea of backing up to disk or tape or doing any kind of task that involves human interaction.

--r

 

[oh toro]

RAID is not backup, so you'll still need backup as you won't have anything to address the possible issues of data loss by means other than hardware failure (accidental deletion, fire, theft, complete failure of the RAID array...)

In terms of RAID, you need to define your disaster recovery requirements which include acceptable downtime, average size of files, required throughput, etc.

 

[veteze]

I just want a system that will cover drive failure. It was my understanding that you can have a system where data is mirrored on a second drive. If one drive fails then everything is copied back onto a new drive when it's inserted.

Fire / Theft can only be covered by an offsite solution. I'll take my chances on those. Deletion... Well... And yeah can the whole raid array fail? Couldn't it just be remounted with a new controller? or would everything be gone?

grrr...

 

[oh toro]

i've seen instances where multiple drives in an array have failed simultaneously rendering a RAID 5 array useless. although rare, it does happen.

anyways, in terms of a mirror RAID (RAID 1), I suggest a hardware RAID unit over software RAID. with hw RAID, there is no reliance on the host system (less overhead and no need to install/config the host). the cost is slightly higher as there is a main board w/cpu that does the RAID.

the following product requires a sata hba...

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/silversata.php

 

[oh toro]

^ silverSATA II is probably what you're looking for. wiebetech is a very good company - i've switched from lacie a few years ago over to wiebetech. their prices are not the cheapest, but they use high quality components.