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RAID 1 vs. External Hard Drive

Post Date: 2008-01-08
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PoppaWedge View Drop Down
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Posts: 43 		  Quote PoppaWedge Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: RAID 1 vs. External Hard Drive
    Posted: 08 Jan 2008 at 5:23am
I'm still in the process of saving up for a new DSO rig and one of the things I've been kicking around is the idea of getting a second HD and setting it up in the RAID 1 configuration for data cloning. I want to use the system for gaming but am concerned about possible performance issues. My thought is that instead of doing the RAID 1 setup, to just set up an external HD with weekly backups instead.
 
I know that an external HD is going to set me back ~$120 to $250. Other than that, does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of either set up?
Thanks!
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Bill the Cat View Drop Down
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Jan 2008 at 9:03am
Based on the way you describe your situation, I wouldn't bother with a RAID1 setup. Instead, I'd get a second internal HD and a backup program like Acronis True Image or Ghost and then do regular full image backups of the primary drive to the secondary drive.
 
I believe external drives are more expensive and slower than internal drives. The only reason to get an external drive would be to share it among two or more computers and to be able to leave it powered down when not actually doing backups.
 
Backing up data files is good. Backing up the entire system disk so you can restore or replace it if necessary is better.
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Akkim View Drop Down
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Posts: 78 		  Quote Akkim Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Jan 2008 at 9:45am
Bill's advice is spot-on. Furthermore, RAID1 (Mirroring) always sounds good - but really, it's not overly useful - and infact, if you have corruption on your drive tables or bad clusters - that data is often synchronized as messed up so if a drive crashes out you may be stuck with a single drive that's unable to figure the right side up and doesn't do you any good.

If you're looking to have data protection, I strongly suggest some external/removable storage if you care to be able to put files on occasion and then remove it from the environment or install a second hard drive like Bill recommends and just ghosting/imaging and storing files on that drive.

--Akkim
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PoppaWedge View Drop Down
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Posts: 43 		  Quote PoppaWedge Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Jan 2008 at 9:59pm
Thanks for the feedback! Akkim or Bill, do either of you use either Acronis or Ghost (I'm assuming Norton Ghost)? Newegg reviews give Acronis 4 stars and Ghost only three. In either case, there seem to be a lot of negative complaints for the two pieces of software. Just curious if either of you are familiar with these packages. Links to the Newegg review info below.
 
Acronis True Image
 
Norton Ghost
 
Thanks!
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