Where oh where do u go to actually set up a raid with Drives??

[Magnetar_Byte]

I've scoured the internet and all I can find is that u can either use windows built in one which doesn't let u know what raid config its using or u can use FreeNAS. 

The thing is I'm just making a DAS out of my drives, I don't want it networked attached.

 

Questions:

- Can I still use FreeNAS for this?

- I want to do a raid 6 config for my 6 drives. I have 4 8tb ones and 4 2tb drives. I want to put both in a raid 6 config (aka dual parity giving 2 drive loss protection)

 

 

Any help would be great, also why the hell is it easier to figure out the definition of All the 10 or more raid configs online then it is TO ACTUALLY SET UP THE DAMN THING.

Seriously what the F*ck??

 

[Radium_Angel]

14 minutes ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

DAMN THING.

Proper RAID controllers have their own firmware built-in, so you set it up from there.

If it's just something you've rolled yourself, then yeah, probably windows or whatever program you are using (freenas)

[Magnetar_Byte]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

Proper RAID controllers have their own firmware built-in, so you set it up from there.

If it's just something you've rolled yourself, then yeah, probably windows or whatever program you are using (freenas)

So what your saying is that to get that plug and play solution to where Once I reorganize the drives capacity into a raid config; to get it to save like that and to then always boot up from a power off like that. I would need a raid card to have it work like that. 

 

Or is it possible since its non volatile memory to have it save how it should boot up with out having a raid card as the initial check to see how the drives should show up in windows.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

So what your saying is that to get that plug and play solution to where Once I reorganize the drives capacity into a raid config; to get it to save like that and to then always boot up from a power off like that. I would need a raid card to have it work like that. 

 

Or is it possible since its non volatile memory to have it save how it should boot up with out having a raid card as the initial check to see how the drives should show up in windows.

As far as I know (because I've never used it) Windows does mirroring and basic striping. I've always used dedicated hardware RAID cards/NAS devices for "complex" RAID setups.

[Annihlator]

I've used both motherboard-offered Raid (i.e. Intel RST), hardware-raid and microsoft-based software raid over the past few years.

What do you imply by making a DAS with your drives; are these drives going to be mounted within your main computer and run on the main system?

If that's the case you will have to either find a hardware-based solution that already offers RAID6 or you'll likely be stuck on UNIX/FreeBSD.

While Storage Spaces in Windows now offers various ways of setting up a volume, it still only offers single-parity to the best of my knowledge.
I also am not personally aware if motherboard RAID (as an alternative) would offer RAID6, afaik most offer only RAID 0,1,5 and 10.

On a side-note; how important is performance (at ALL)? RAID6 is rumored to be having a worse performance drawback then RAID5 already incurs as a penalty, write-performance flat out sucks (at-best the same as a single disk, often worse), so it may well be you might be more interested in mirrored-striping (RAID10) if the purpose would be to have a failure tolerance *near* 2 (as for 4 drives in RAID10 the oddball chance two drives on the same end of the stripe fail would still result in a full failure) mainly since it has no performance drawback.
It would also be a relatively simple solution to implement in any case, compared to RAID6

[dalekphalm]

If you need a Windows based RAID solution, then you should checkout FlexRAID. There is a one-time license cost (they offer a free trial though, so try before you buy), but the cost is pretty minimal (typically well under $100).

 

FlexRAID does a few things:

1. It runs inside Windows

2. It runs "on top of" the drives (Meaning each HDD is formatted as NTFS, and you can literally pull it out and slap it into any other computer and read the contents just fine)

3. The user interface is pretty easy to learn and follow

4. You can configure a number of different setups, including Mirroring (Similar to RAID1), and Parity (Similar to RAID5/6), etc. You can also mix and match different drive sizes - though you should read the documentation, as there are important caveats with that (for example, your Parity drive needs to be the same size or larger as your largest data drive).

 

I used to use it for a long time for my home server. The main downside to FlexRAID is that the data isn't striped across drives (which is how it allows you to pull a drive and read the files in another computer), which means the RAID speed is limited to single drive performance, so it's just not super duper fast.

 

Should still be more than fast enough for most applications though.

 

They also have a more traditional RAID type mode (one that stripes data across drives and acts more like a Hardware RAID or ZFS Array type setup), and there are pros and cons of using that vs their FlexRAID mode.

[Electronics Wizardy]

On 7/10/2019 at 7:28 AM, Magnetar_Byte said:

use windows built in one which doesn't let u know what raid config its using

What do you mean? Storage spaces is very powerfull and lets you do exactly what you want and whatever raid config you want, you tell it exactly what you want it to do and it works. And it has lots of other features like tiereing, and multiple raid levels in one pool.

[Magnetar_Byte]

18 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What do you mean? Storage spaces is very powerful and lets you do exactly what you want and whatever raid config you want, you tell it exactly what you want it to do and it works. And it has lots of other features like tiereing, and multiple raid levels in one pool.

Are we using the same program bud. Because sure doesn't feel like it. First off my 8tb shucked wd elements drives show up in the software, but when I try to create ANYTHING with them it fails and says it can't. 

 

So not only does it not even get done with the first step but I can't even get the options to see what raid configs I can use. But from what I've seen online the very VERY lightweight user interface sure seems like it offers nothing to what u said. 

 

If u can show me then sure I'll believe it but from what I've seen i don't like it one bit. 

[Magnetar_Byte]

On 7/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, Annihlator said:

I've used both motherboard-offered Raid (i.e. Intel RST), hardware-raid and microsoft-based software raid over the past few years.

Alrit so what one is the best with your experience?? Also can u just use software to save the config for a drive config u setup let it be raid 6 or raid 10. Because it sure feels like to get a solution where u just set it up and then when u plug it in the 4 drives pop up as what u set them as months ago. It feels I need to get a stupid raid card. 

 

Is that correct or what is?

On 7/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, Annihlator said:

What do you imply by making a DAS with your drives; are these drives going to be mounted within your main computer and run on the main system?

No There currently in a drive housing that I plug into my PC via sata and power cables. I'm working to get a second PC to just work as my ingest station for new content. But for now that what I do.

On 7/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, Annihlator said:

If that's the case you will have to either find a hardware-based solution that already offers RAID6 or you'll likely be stuck on UNIX/FreeBSD.

nope.

On 7/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, Annihlator said:

While Storage Spaces in Windows now offers various ways of setting up a volume, it still only offers single-parity to the best of my knowledge.
I also am not personally aware if motherboard RAID (as an alternative) would offer RAID6, afaik most offer only RAID 0,1,5 and 10.

But isn't raid 10 some weird trickery where u get dual parity aka if 2 drives fail entirely your still good. U said this yourself below, or am I missing something?

On 7/10/2019 at 6:18 PM, Annihlator said:

On a side-note; how important is performance (at ALL)? RAID6 is rumored to be having a worse performance drawback then RAID5 already incurs as a penalty, write-performance flat out sucks (at-best the same as a single disk, often worse), so it may well be you might be more interested in mirrored-striping (RAID10) if the purpose would be to have a failure tolerance *near* 2 (as for 4 drives in RAID10 the oddball chance two drives on the same end of the stripe fail would still result in a full failure) mainly since it has no performance drawback.
It would also be a relatively simple solution to implement in any case, compared to RAID6

I mean having 90mbs is what I have now and from what I've seen that is what I will get with raid 6. Is there any solution that is faster but also can lose entirely two drives. Because raid 10 doesn't sound like a solution it sounds like a half assed attempt to fix a real problem by not fixing it........

[Magnetar_Byte]

19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

If you need a Windows based RAID solution, then you should checkout FlexRAID. There is a one-time license cost (they offer a free trial though, so try before you buy), but the cost is pretty minimal (typically well under $100).

Wait so u mean once I do the trial I will HAVE to get the full version just to keep using my raid config I previously set up with it. Doesn't it save the config via some onboard method let it be on the drives cach, your system storage or something. 

 

Meaning I wouldn't have to pay to keep using my drive config I set up with the flexraid software??

19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

FlexRAID does a few things:

1. It runs inside Windows

2. It runs "on top of" the drives (Meaning each HDD is formatted as NTFS, and you can literally pull it out and slap it into any other computer and read the contents just fine)

3. The user interface is pretty easy to learn and follow

4. You can configure a number of different setups, including Mirroring (Similar to RAID1), and Parity (Similar to RAID5/6), etc. You can also mix and match different drive sizes - though you should read the documentation, as there are important caveats with that (for example, your Parity drive needs to be the same size or larger as your largest data drive).

 

I used to use it for a long time for my home server.

What do u use now?

19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

The main downside to FlexRAID is that the data isn't striped across drives (which is how it allows you to pull a drive and read the files in another computer), which means the RAID speed is limited to single drive performance, so it's just not super duper fast.

So the reason was performance? Is performance really that important if your just copying files to it unplugging the hunk of metal and sticking it back in its corner until u do the same? Sure it would be nice to wait 3-4 hrs vs 8-9hrs but ehh its running over nit anyway who cares...

 

I say this because what made u care enough to switch, where as I don't seem to care.

19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Should still be more than fast enough for most applications though.

 

They also have a more traditional RAID type mode (one that stripes data across drives and acts more like a Hardware RAID or ZFS Array type setup), and there are pros and cons of using that vs their FlexRAID mode.

So what your saying is that flexraid is the only raid software that saves my config offline meaning if there shit software was removed or corrupted I could still have my drives show up as a SINGLE raided drive config. Because that is all I want I don't care about unplugging my drives and being able to still use it. Would be nice sure but I'd rather have the ability to NOT RELY on software for anything.

 

I want to pretty much create the raid config with my drives shutdown the drives and have them show up as one SINGLE drive (to windows that is and linux) that is secretly set up as well in whatever raid config I want. Does that not exist? Or is it only with raid cards, because even with those stupid things they cost a lot (being more then free which every software for this is) AND if they fail so does my damn raid config. So a big now go if thats the case. 

 

So any other options with these parameters.

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

Are we using the same program bud. Because sure doesn't feel like it. First off my 8tb shucked wd elements drives show up in the software, but when I try to create ANYTHING with them it fails and says it can't. 

 

So not only does it not even get done with the first step but I can't even get the options to see what raid configs I can use. But from what I've seen online the very VERY lightweight user interface sure seems like it offers nothing to what u said. 

 

If u can show me then sure I'll believe it but from what I've seen i don't like it one bit. 

What software are you using?

 

Does your drive show up with get-physicaldisk?

 

Then you make a storage pool with new-storagepool, then new-virtualdisk to make the virtual disk that files get stored on.

[dalekphalm]

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

Wait so u mean once I do the trial I will HAVE to get the full version just to keep using my raid config I previously set up with it. Doesn't it save the config via some onboard method let it be on the drives cach, your system storage or something. 

Once the trial expires, the software will no longer work, and that means your RAID "pool" (the combined virtual drive) will no longer be available.

 

All the files will still be accessible individually on each drive, so there's no risk to your data.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

Meaning I wouldn't have to pay to keep using my drive config I set up with the flexraid software??

You would need to pay for a license (one time fee) if you decided you wanted to keep the RAID array.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

What do u use now?

I switched to ESXi Hypervisor + FreeNAS VM + HBA, and I'm using a 6x 3TB ZFS RAIDZ1 (RAID5 equivalent) array.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

So the reason was performance? Is performance really that important if your just copying files to it unplugging the hunk of metal and sticking it back in its corner until u do the same? Sure it would be nice to wait 3-4 hrs vs 8-9hrs but ehh its running over nit anyway who cares...

Performance was not the primary reason I wanted to switch. I was using FlexRAID for a few reasons, mostly because I couldn't afford to buy matching large HDD's at the time, so I had a mishmash of different drive sizes and types.

 

I switched because I got my hands on a full blown file server (Dell T410) plus a DAS disk shelf (Dell MD1200) for free, so I upgraded to a more complex setup in order to hone my skills while away from work.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

I say this because what made u care enough to switch, where as I don't seem to care.

See above.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

So what your saying is that flexraid is the only raid software that saves my config offline meaning if there shit software was removed or corrupted I could still have my drives show up as a SINGLE raided drive config. Because that is all I want I don't care about unplugging my drives and being able to still use it. Would be nice sure but I'd rather have the ability to NOT RELY on software for anything.

If the software stopped working or was uninstalled, all of your data would still be on each individual HDD - they would still be accessible individually (just assign the drives a drive letter and open each drive up).

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

I want to pretty much create the raid config with my drives shutdown the drives and have them show up as one SINGLE drive (to windows that is and linux) that is secretly set up as well in whatever raid config I want. Does that not exist?

FlexRAID (Along with actual Hardware RAID) will do this. With FlexRAID, you can still access the drives individually, if you choose to do so. You will also be able to access the "array" (The pool of all the drives combined together) - accessing the "array" (which would be assigned a drive letter) would be the primary way to use it. You can then choose to share that drive letter out over the network if you so choose.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

Or is it only with raid cards, because even with those stupid things they cost a lot (being more then free which every software for this is) AND if they fail so does my damn raid config. So a big now go if thats the case.

You seem to be overthinking a lot of this.

 

Also, check eBay for used RAID Cards. You can find good entry level ones like the IBM m1015 or the Dell H200 for fairly cheap, and even LSI branded ones are pretty cheap too if you hunt around.

5 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

So any other options with these parameters.

Options:

1. Install FreeNAS, setup a ZFS array (plug the HDD's directly into the SATA ports on the motherboard. If you run out of ports, buy SATA expansion Cards or an HBA, and plug in more drives).

2. Install Linux, setup ZFS, see above.

3. Install Linux, setup MDADM RAID, see above.

Install Windows Server, setup Windows Storage Spaces, see above.

4. Install Windows, setup FlexRAID, see above.

5. Install unRAID, setup an unRAID array, see above.

6. Install Windows or Linux, install a Hardware RAID Card, setup a RAID Array at the hardware level. The OS will see the array as a single drive.

 

There are possibly other options I'm just not thinking of right now as well.

[Magnetar_Byte]

On 7/13/2019 at 9:56 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

What software are you using?

Literally just told u bud f**king Storage spaces. Could u please stop beating around the bush and tell me how to make this OHHH so perfect program for u actually do anything for me instead of just saying im not using the same software. THANKS

On 7/13/2019 at 9:56 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Does your drive show up with get-physicaldisk?

WTF u didn't even mention this and Idk wanna use it it shows up in disk management and thats all that matters. They are currently unallocated drives.

 

On 7/13/2019 at 9:56 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Then you make a storage pool with new-storagepool, then new-virtualdisk to make the virtual disk that files get stored on.

GREAT directions on how to do this, thxs for such clarification to a total beginner. 

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

Literally just told u bud f**king Storage spaces. Could u please stop beating around the bush and tell me how to make this OHHH so perfect program for u actually do anything for me instead of just saying im not using the same software. THANKS

No offense, but you need to tone that down if you want people to help instead of just getting frustrated.

 

Look - I get it. This can get complicated and frustrating really easily. But we want to help you. But sometimes there isn't just some magical answer that will just solve the problem.

3 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

WTF u didn't even mention this and Idk wanna use it it shows up in disk management and thats all that matters. They are currently unallocated drives.

He's giving you usable advice - if using PowerShell to send that command is too much, then perhaps Storage Spaces isn't the right solution. That's okay, but that doesn't make it a bad solution. Storage Spaces is definitely not for beginners, since troubleshooting almost certainly requires some basic PowerShell knowledge and usage.

 

The drives showing up in Disk Management is useful information, but ultimately doesn't tell you much.

3 hours ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

GREAT directions on how to do this, thxs for such clarification to a total beginner. 

I'd suggest you start with a Storage Spaces guide, and also read up on the different PowerShell commands for it.

 

Example:

get-physicaldisk

Is a PowerShell command that will return all available physical disks for storage spaces. If it doesn't show up here, it won't work inside your array (and that can help us identify why it won't work, and how we might fix it).

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/storage/get-physicaldisk?view=win10-ps

 

If you find this to be too involved - that's cool. Let's find a different solution more suited to you. Do you need to run Windows specifically? You mentioned FreeNAS in the OP, so I assume Windows is not mandatory.

 

If that's the case, FreeNAS might be a better option, because it's a bit more straight forward, due to the WebUI nature of setting on a ZFS RAIDZ2 (which would be the "RAID6" you mention in the OP).

 

Note: FreeNAS can be a bit weird with permissions sometimes, but usually it's fine once you setup a SMB Share (you set permissions from the client computer, not from the FreeNAS GUI).

 

Here's a straight forward 'walk you through every step' guide for FreeNAS to get you started:

https://www.familybrown.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=fester:intro

[Magnetar_Byte]

24 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

If that's the case, FreeNAS might be a better option, because it's a bit more straight forward, due to the WebUI nature of setting on a ZFS RAIDZ2 (which would be the "RAID6" you mention in the OP).

 

Note: FreeNAS can be a bit weird with permissions sometimes, but usually it's fine once you setup a SMB Share (you set permissions from the client computer, not from the FreeNAS GUI).

 

Here's a straight forward 'walk you through every step' guide for FreeNAS to get you started:

https://www.familybrown.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=fester:intro

Sorry I've been trying to figure this out for quite some time now and seeing my 8tb drives just sitting on a desk UNUSED because I STILL can't get enough help to figure this out is I guess pissing me off. 

 

Updates:

1st

So the storage spaces problem was that I had the drives allocated so it wasn't working. I wiped them and left them unallocated they now work to pool, well they create the pool and let me change the settings of it so thats a start. I then realized I couldn't do the 3 parity fake raid 6 windows offers because its raid 10 and I don't have another 5th drive to add. I have t sets of 4 drives and I'm not breaking that up. 

 

2nd

SO I'm now thinking freeNAS is the way to go. But I'm still hesitant. Reason being is that i don't want a networked attached storage, I'm about to leave for college. So i want the storage raid pool to be able to be just unplugged stuck in a corned and get turned on when I need to throw data onto the archive. 

 

Is that possible and by possible I mean will it work., not be some janky shit that freeNAS isn't meant to be used for?

 

3rd

since I plan to not have them networked attached as of yet since I still have to go through school so I can get to the stable life part so I can then create a proper network for my place. So is it possible to just set up the array on my current main pc and then just plug in the array and sign when I need to drop data on it?? or does the thing seriously need to be on all the time? 

[kirashi]

On 7/10/2019 at 7:28 AM, Magnetar_Byte said:

I've scoured the internet and all I can find is that u can either use windows built in one which doesn't let u know what raid config its using or u can use FreeNAS. 

The thing is I'm just making a DAS out of my drives, I don't want it networked attached.

 

Questions:

- Can I still use FreeNAS for this?

- I want to do a raid 6 config for my 6 drives. I have 4 8tb ones and 4 2tb drives. I want to put both in a raid 6 config (aka dual parity giving 2 drive loss protection)

 

 

Any help would be great, also why the hell is it easier to figure out the definition of All the 10 or more raid configs online then it is TO ACTUALLY SET UP THE DAMN THING.

Seriously what the F*ck??

 

Take 'er down 'bout 15-25% there Squirly Dan. If I understand correctly, you effectively want a way to combine a bunch of drives into a single RAID-like volume that you can safely power down and/or unplug from your PC via... USB? eSATA? Thunderbolt? (not ethernet) If so, you can certainly use Windows Storage Spaces / Disk Management, but I too don't like the idea of relying on the Windows OS to access my data. (If shit hits the fan, I need to be able to recover my stuff via Linux and/or MacOS.)

 

My solution was to look into alternative disk pooling software, such as SnapRaid, FlexRaid, Drive Bender, or the one I settled on: StableBit DrivePool. I am not paid or sponsored by StableBit; in fact, most of the developers of StableBit actually use it themselves, as it was written to replace Windows Home Server 2011's similar disk pooling feature since Microsoft decided to stop developing WHS after just one release.

 

I have 2x 500GB SSD's and 2x 3TB HDD's setup in 2 separate pooled arrays with "RAID" 1 write / 0 read enabled. This allows me to realize the benefits of striped read speeds (around 1.8x faster than a single drive's read speed) while having the same 2x redundancy as my data is written to both disks per pooled volume. The best part? DrivePool simply stores your files in a hidden folder at the root of the drive, and remounts the pool as its' own letter. This means that you can simply disconnect 1 (or more) of the drives in the pool, connect it to another PC, and salvage your data from it, which is MUCH easier and cost effective than playing the RAID game.

 

Just remember that RAID IS NOT A BACKUP, and neither is my pooled volume setup. Proper backups always follow the 3-2-1 Backup method (or better), are tested on a regular basis, and not stored in some kind of proprietary format used by a piece of software you won't be able to re-install years later.

[Magnetar_Byte]

21 minutes ago, kirashi said:

You effectively want a way to combine a bunch of drives into a single RAID-like volume that you can safely power down and/or unplug from your PC via... USB? eSATA? Thunderbolt? (not ethernet) If so, you can certainly use Windows Storage Spaces / Disk Management, but I too don't like the idea of relying on the Windows OS to access my data. (If shit hits the fan, I need to be able to recover my stuff via Linux and/or MacOS.)

Ideally I'd love to just have to unplug one single T-bolt 3 cable thats somehow connected to all 4 8tb drives. Cause right now all i'm using is a HDD holder that has a 4 sata out in the back. Which I then plug into the 4 sata ports on my mobo luckily I had 4 or else this wouldn't work but Ideally I'd like to get a one of those adapters where it splits into 4 sata connections. I had a link to it before i don't know if it was esata but it somehow was able to get 4 sata ports from one connector it was old not modern too. ideas?

 

Quote

My solution was to look into alternative disk pooling software, such as SnapRaid, FlexRaid, Drive Bender, or the one I settled on: StableBit DrivePool. I am not paid or sponsored by StableBit; in fact, most of the developers of StableBit actually use it themselves, as it was written to replace Windows Home Server 2011's similar disk pooling feature since Microsoft decided to stop developing WHS after just one release.

I've looked into stable bit drivepool but as soon as I tried to do it I realized there was linux shit I needed to do and gave up. So please if u don't mind walk me through it because I know its the best from other forums I've looked at but they all bitch at me for using windows. And I'm getting a little ticked to say the least. 

 

Quote

I have 2x 500GB SSD's and 2x 3TB HDD's setup in 2 separate pooled arrays with "RAID" 1 write / 0 read enabled. This allows me to realize the benefits of striped read speeds (around 1.8x faster than a single drive's read speed) while having the same 2x redundancy as my data is written to both disks per pooled volume.

I have no clue what that even means, u mind linking a tutorial on how to do this. Also is it worth it for someone who doesn't really have the time to FULLY permanently set up his backup network and strats??

Quote

The best part? DrivePool simply stores your files in a hidden folder at the root of the drive, and remounts the pool as its' own letter. This means that you can simply disconnect 1 (or more) of the drives in the pool, connect it to another PC, and salvage your data from it, which is MUCH easier and cost effective than playing the RAID game.

See this is on my list of things I want to do, I also want to set up a bootable Linux install on a USB stick so I have an OS if I ever need one when mine all fail. Looked into that got confused and gave up......

 

So please do your best to dumb this shit down for me if u could I'd really appreciate it.

Quote

Just remember that RAID IS NOT A BACKUP, and neither is my pooled volume setup. Proper backups always follow the 3-2-1 Backup method (or better), are tested on a regular basis, and not stored in some kind of proprietary format used by a piece of software you won't be able to re-install years later.

Yes I know raid isn't a backup its simply a better safer version of the 1 of 3 backups of your data u should have. yes yes i know that. I'm not saying I know this because I thought most people would get it but guess not. So I'm saying it here so u know, I GET IT. All I'm trying to do is the best I can until I have time to do this later on. 

 

 

Alrit I'll  give u my idea of what I am doing now with regards to my data integrity:

 

1.

I have my data set up in tiers. By that I mean I have my EVERYTHING with at least one copy of its self on a seperate drive. Because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with Raid configs as u can see I STILL FUCKING DON"T ugggg. Anyways since I didn't then either I just got 4 HDD's and stuck 4 copies of all my files on them. 

2.

After that I then take the medium important data and I make another copy of that and put it on my smaller SSD drives.

3.

After that I then take my MOST IMPORTANT data like I can't lose it level shit. I take that and put it on my boot drive nvme drive, 2 raid 1 ssd's in a safe offsite,  redundant flash drive copies onsite and offsite.

4.

And for the most important ones I print them out by hand and put them in a safety deposit box along with a flashdrive with the pdf or other files on them. 

 

 

 

For me this is not only enough to satisfy that 3-2-1 Backup method but it goes above and beyond it, and its enough beyond it that I'm comfortable with it. Now what I'm trying to do is upgrade this method by adding in another 4 8tb drives to the mix. My initial thought was to just keep my 4 2tb drives as a separate raid array and these 4 new ones as another separate array.

 

But then I thought that really isn't helping anything, if I wanted to I should get another 4 2tb array so I can backup whats on the 4 8tb array as my EVERYTHING archive. Whats your thoughts on this suggestions would be appreciated.

[kirashi]

24 minutes ago, Magnetar_Byte said:

--SNIP--

Also is it worth it for someone who doesn't really have the time to FULLY permanently set up his backup network and strats??

--SNIP--

Whats your thoughts on this suggestions would be appreciated.

My thoughts are that I don't currently have time to explain in detail between my full time job and IT clients currently paying my consulting rate for backup solutions similar to what you're asking to learn about. (Seriously speaking, I'm not trying to be rude here - just don't have the free time to delve any deeper into some topics.)

 

I'd start by researching places on reddit such as /r/DataHoarder, /r/homelab, and /r/sysadmin, along with StableBit's own community forums and ServeTheHome's site and forums. Totally understand you don't have gobs of time either - just keep in mind that it takes time to learn how this all works if you want to do it right.