Making my files safe !!

sunny2004

I looking for some input regarding backing up my files..

I'm confused by the options in raid boxes...

Here is the type of thing im looking at...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-RN21400-100NES-ReadyNAS-Personal-Streaming/dp/B015S0Y50C/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Now all the other bells and whistles like streaming Im NOT into,,
I simply want to be able to copy files over and have an instant backup of the files..

and there is where my confusion starts, I get there are raid options that simply copy any file to BOTH drives, giving you a backup, all be it in the same box, but sounds safe enough to me..

Then there are other options for raid that copies across files on multiple drives, I think its called stripped or something...

How would the linked box work with 4 drives in it ?

Any help appreciated, and as I said, my intention is to be able to plug it directly into my PC by USB and copy files over and have them backed up safely..

davo2001

RAID is not a backup, and should never me considered as such. I work for a major NAS manufacturer and the amount of people who mistake RAID for a backup is shocking.

It will only protect you against a single disk failure (in the case of RAID1 or 5), other RAID modes offer higher redundancy at a cost of capacity but the principle is the same.

If you keep your data on a RAID unit and no where else i can guarantee you, 100% that your data will be lost at one stage or another, no device will last forever.

If you keep your data on a RAID device and it doesn't power on, your data is gone, if the RAID controller fails (yes this happens), your data is gone, if the data is accidentally deleted from the RAID volume / share, the data is gone.

If your data is important than opt for the 3-2-1 approach:

Keep 3 copies of data, 2 of which are local but on different mediums, and at least 1 copy offsite.

sunny2004

Great advice, taken fully onboard, and I will take the advice..

Am I correct in saying if the device fails I can remove the drives into another case and access the date?
and if I am using mirroring drives.. if one fails, I can replace it or remove the good one and place it in a caddy and access the date ?

all the above questions with date held elsewhere..


Excuse my ignorance as I am trying to get my head around the technology.

ED E

If a disk fails, you replace the disk, dandy.
If the enclosure fails, data gone.
If the controller fails, data gone.
If you have small fire, data gone.
If you have a flood, data gone.
If a user who infects their machine with Crytowall, €400 or data gone...

The RAID really only protects you from a drive death. Nothing more. You cant trust an enclosure swap to save your bacon.

Using a NAS + Offsite service is what you want.

For example, my setup:

Workstation has all my images on its Drive
D images over to NAS
NAS backs up to Crashplan

This is the only situation you can trust, if thats too much then go for part 2 and part 3 and skip the workstation copy.

sunny2004

I like the idea of the crashplan.. My only concern is having to pay 50 bucks every year but I get the sense in it.

What if any are your thought on the linked box in my first post ?

And thanks for taking the time to reply

ED E

€420 for the NAS + 4x €100 for 3TB drives = €800 worth of kit for at the very most an 8 year life. Not including electricity thats €100/year. Crashplain(Or Carbonite or Backblaze) double that for only another $50/year, relatively a very good value proposition.

If its just raw storage you need the linked one is a good option, things like lots of plex use like more CPU power though.

sunny2004

ok, that leaves me with one more question, if 4 drives are installed into the NAS linked above can they be set up as 2 drives backing up to 2 drives... 4x 3tb drives.. acting as 6tb mirrored onto 6tb.. if that makes sense.

davo2001

For what you need (raw storage) it's overkill, get a dual drive Synology like the one below:

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/DS216j

ED E

sunny2004 wrote: »

ok, that leaves me with one more question, if 4 drives are installed into the NAS linked above can they be set up as 2 drives backing up to 2 drives... 4x 3tb drives.. acting as 6tb mirrored onto 6tb.. if that makes sense.

Yep, you can RAID1 it so that drives mirror. In that case any one drive can fail and you won't lose data, but lose two(not super likely but not impossible) and you've got a loss on your hands.

sunny2004

ED E wrote: »

Yep, you can RAID1 it so that drives mirror. In that case any one drive can fail and you won't lose data, but lose two(not super likely but not impossible) and you've got a loss on your hands.

ok, I worried I might become annoying here

So with 4 drives, its simply enough to have 2 mirrored onto 2 drives ?

ED E

This is what boards is all about.

Yep, RAID1 and RAID10(not offered on basic boxes) offer the most protection. RAID5 offers more space but less protection but is no longer a sane option, RAID6 would be better if you had 6 or 8 disks but for a small setup like yours RAID1 is the clear choice.

davo2001

sunny2004 wrote: »

ok, I worried I might become annoying here

So with 4 drives, its simply enough to have 2 mirrored onto 2 drives ?

With 4 disks in a NAS you can have the following:

1 Array with either RAID5 (1 disk redundancy), uses about two thirds the capacity of all the combined disks or RAID6 (some models don't have this), 2 disk redundancy, uses about half the capacity of all the combined disks.

or

2 Arrays with 2 RAID1s.

For what you want OP, 1 NAS with 2 disks set as RAID1 will do, again, make sure you have adequate backups in place.

dunworth1

davo2001 wrote: »

If you keep your data on a RAID unit and no where else i can guarantee you, 100% that your data will be lost at one stage or another, no device will last forever.

If you keep your data on a RAID device and it doesn't power on, your data is gone, if the RAID controller fails (yes this happens), your data is gone, if the data is accidentally deleted from the RAID volume / share, the data is gone.

just to add to this if you are using raid 1 and the Controller fails you can generally access the data by connecting the drive to a pc sata port.

but as others have stated don't depend on this.

basically it depends on on much you value your data
if you cannot live without the data.

i would also look into an online backup of some sort to have you data offsite

sunny2004

Thank you for the information Davo and ed

I appreciate your time spent on this matter, now its time to put in place the raid array for this unit.
Then look at the options for backing up online as mentioned above..
I might have questions regarding the online options, but that's for another day or thread...

Thanks again...

davo2001

dunworth1 wrote: »

just to add to this if you are using raid 1 and the Controller fails you can generally access the data by connecting the drive to a pc sata port.

but as others have stated don't depend on this.

basically it depends on on much you value your data
if you cannot live without the data.

i would also look into an online backup of some sort to have you data offsite

This very much depends on the type of RAID controller used and the file format of the disks.