4tb HDD in r RAID1. Should I?

[frldyz]

Almost done buying all the components for my 1st build.
I have an Samsung 850 pro (512gb) SSD. I will run my operating system ( Win. 7) and programs from here.
The HDD are for storing files. We take a ton of photos and HD videos of our kids. In 1 year I went from 0-500gb on files. So now I am going big. I would love to run RAID 1 as a back-up. I will have an external HD. But I would feel more comfortable with some more security as a backup if something were to happen.
If I run a RAID1 on 2 4tb HDD, this is kind of a safety net if something were to happen to 1 of the drives, correct?
Is there any negative to running 2 4tb HDD in RAID1?
Can Wndows 7 functional with 2 4tb HDD in RAID1? I thought I read somewhere Windows 7 limits you to 2.7tb?
Thanks everyone.

 

[BikerEcho]

If I run a RAID1 on 2 4tb HDD, this is kind of a safety net if something were to happen to 1 of the drives, correct?

That's correct. The one drive is always identical to the other. So if one hard drive dies, you still have the other.
Having a cloud backup of the files that you simply can not life without is also a good idea. In case your house burns down or a thief takes the computer. You never know.

Is there any negative to running 2 4tb HDD in RAID1?

compared to other solutions you don't get any performance increase, and you loose half of the total storage. It's the cheapest RAID for file protection though. My favorite is RAID 5. It will increase the the performance a little and you only loose 1/3 of the total storage.
The con about that is an extra harddrive. That will set you back some extra dollars and add extra noise.

Can Wndows 7 functional with 2 4tb HDD in RAID1? I thought I read somewhere Windows 7 limits you to 2.7tb?

Never heard of that before.

 

[Celegorm]

Biker pretty much hit it dead on. just to clarify/expand on his posts.

compared to other solutions you don't get any performance increase, and you loose half of the total storage. It's the cheapest RAID for file protection though.

To not make assumptions, when he says you lose half the total storage he doesnt' mean you'll only have 2 TB to work with. Rather, 2x4TB drives should give you 8TB of storage but because of the RAID1 you only get 4TB.

My favorite is RAID 5. It will increase the the performance a little and you only loose 1/3 of the total storage.

Same thing, only the math would start out as 3x4TB and would give you 8TB instead of 12. This is how I have my server setup as well.

Never heard of that before.

I have, but it's more to do with how the drive is initialized than windows itself. Most peole are familiar with initializing their hard drives with "MBR" which is what has the drive limits. Assuming windows Vista or newer, when you install the drive initialize as a GPT drive and you will not have this issue.

 

[setishock]

Something else to keep in mind is the larger your storage, the more you're going to lose if a drive dies on you. So doing a RAID 1, which I understand is the same data going on both drives at the same time, you get larger drives because your storage capacity is cut in half. You soon reach the bottom of your pocket and you soon reach the point of diminishing returns.

In my case I'm looking for a cloud nas box to alleviate that problem. A 4 bay with 2TB per bay will work right nicely for me. Check in to it. It may solve your problem.

 

[frldyz]

setishock. I am new to computers and all this. Can you elaborate a little more about what your doing? A cloud is something online that stores files right? Do you pay for that service? How much is it?


RAID1 will only benefit me if 1 of the HDD dies? So if that were to happen the benefit would be the ino is still available on the other drive? Correct?

 

[BikerEcho]

setishock. I am new to computers and all this. Can you elaborate a little more about what your doing? A cloud is something online that stores files right? Do you pay for that service? How much is it?

I am not sure exactly what he mean by a cloud NAS box. I think it's a nas box that can be accessed via the internet. But as far as i know most of them have DHCP.
But to answer what i can:
The Cloud can be other things than only to store files, but it's mostly what people talk about when discussing cloud service.
I pay 2 bucks (USD) for 100GB via Google Drive each month. You can also get 1 TB for 10 USD. Then they have 10TB for 100 bucks. It's a shame they don't offer 5TB for 50 bucks.
There are more services out there with different prices. But Google are one of the cheaper.
BTW. 15 GB is free.

RAID1 will only benefit me if 1 of the HDD dies? So if that were to happen the benefit would be the ino is still available on the other drive? Correct?

Yes. it's simply like having 2 drives with exactly the same stuff.

 

[frldyz]

Google Drive and cloud services.
So technically all our videos/photos are out in cyberspace. And if something were to happen the could get hacked and leaked?

 

[setishock]

It's primary function is to serve as a storage device for your network. You and others on your net work, if allowed, can access files off the same box.
Through software improvements over the years you can now more easily access it anywhere there is an internet connection. With apps for iPhone and Android you can hit it from a semi intelligent phone or tablet. Even your laptop.

Did that sound like an ad or what? Weird morning at the office. It's quiet for a change.

 

[BikerEcho]

So technically all our videos/photos are out in cyberspace. And if something were to happen the could get hacked and leaked?

True. But other than you and your relatives, who want to look at your vacation photos?
Note that big companies like Google have very high security. Your files should be fine, specially because they are useless to other people than yourself.
Who want to steal them? I know I don't.

 

[Celegorm]

My experience with those cloud boxes is that they are extremely slow to copy anything to where a simple word doc would take a minute even on a gigabit network. That still leaves the issue of it not being backed up if the hard drive on your computer dies before you can copy it over.

IMO, you're better off sticking with the RAID1 you were originally looking at to start off with.