New Storage Array decision

[RobFRaschke]

Had another damn drive fail. Lost entirely too much data this time around because my offsite backup drive was ruined pretty recently and I didn't get a new one in place. Entirely my fault, but want more local redundancy.

 

Current loose plan is for either:

2x6-8TB drives in RAID 0

or

4x3-4TB drives in RAID 10

 

Total capacity between the two would be identical, and the speed would certainly be better on RAID 10 especially in writes, however there's also the slight chance of two drives on one side of the stripe failing and reducing all the data to junk.

 

I always had good luck with drives till the last year or so, and I've lost three drives, taking down three different arrays that didn't have full mirroring and I'm entirely sick of it now.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Get better backups, id get a external hdd or a cloud backups, raid isn't a backup.

 

3 minutes ago, RobFRaschke said:

2x6-8TB drives in RAID 0

do you mean raid 1?

 

 

For raid, id use storage spaces in windows, its a lot better than the raid in your motherboard, and allows mixed drive sizes, tiering, and mixed raid levels.

 

Id get the bigger hdds, as there much cheaper per gb. You can get 8tbs for like 130 usd here. Then just add more as needed for more speed and space.

[RobFRaschke]

27 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Get better backups, id get a external hdd or a cloud backups, raid isn't a backup.

 

do you mean raid 1?

 

 

For raid, id use storage spaces in windows, its a lot better than the raid in your motherboard, and allows mixed drive sizes, tiering, and mixed raid levels.

 

Id get the bigger hdds, as there much cheaper per gb. You can get 8tbs for like 130 usd here. Then just add more as needed for more speed and space.

I did mean RAID 1, thanks.

 

I already have StableBit DrivePool as well as an option, and the dedicated software array versions are fantastic, so I may well go that way. But the principals of two drive vs four drive distribution is still valid.

 

I'm not investing in used drives at this point, and I can't find 8TB drives for under $180USD, which doesn't have as good of a a $/GB as the 3TB drives, which are the cheapest, followed pretty closely by 4TB drives.

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, RobFRaschke said:

 

I'm not investing in used drives at this point, and I can't find 8TB drives for under $180USD, which doesn't have as good of a a $/GB as the 3TB drives, which are the cheapest, followed pretty closely by 4TB drives.

You can get them new for about 130. Look at thsehttps://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB8000100/dp/B01HAPGEIE/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3728KEWXD7RXC&keywords=8tb+external+hard+drive&qid=1556002649&s=gateway&sprefix=8tb+ext%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-3

 

just take it out of its case and its a normal desktop drive inside.

[RobFRaschke]

9 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can get them new for about 130. Look at thsehttps://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB8000100/dp/B01HAPGEIE/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3728KEWXD7RXC&keywords=8tb+external+hard+drive&qid=1556002649&s=gateway&sprefix=8tb+ext%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-3

 

just take it out of its case and its a normal desktop drive inside.

That is a heck of a deal, and if it's USB 3, there wouldn't be much performance hit leaving them in the case, and it wouldn't cause any warranty headaches. Thanks!