Is raid 1 silly for backed up workstation?

AshesAndWool · November 22, 2019

Hey guys. I recently posted a planned build to the forum. One of the things someone said was that I shouldn't use two ssd-drives in raid 1 for my project drive because it is not a backup. I understand this, and am planning to do daily backups to a NAS and cloud storage, but the thing is that even with that if I were to undergo a disk failure I would lose one day of musical compositions and school work which would be terrible, so I wanted a raid 1 config just to avoid this. Here are the two options. Should I go with the two evo drives or the one pro drive? Thanks

Config 1: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9WHt8M

Config 2: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GNkrrV

vanished · November 22, 2019

It ultimately comes down to your risk tolerance, how often you backup, and what your uptime requirements are. If rebuilding your system from the backup in the event of a drive failure is an unacceptable nuisance, then you need RAID. If you think you could deal with it, then think if you would be OK with losing whatever isn't backed up yet. If you do weekly, or daily, or hourly backups, this may be more or less. If this much loss, no matter how unlikely, is unacceptable, then again, you need RAID. If however you feel OK with this situation, then RAID is likely a waste of time and money. For most people, I believe it's a waste, but I recognize that there are cases where it makes sense, and it sounds like yours just may be one of them.

Lady Fitzgerald · November 22, 2019

RAID is redundancy, not a backup. RAIDs other than 0 will give you a certain amount of drive failure tolerance so, if one or more drives (depending on the RAID level) fails, your computer will keep chugging along without data loss. Since your computer is a work station, being able to do that may well make having a RAID well worthwhile.

However, keep in mind that drive failure is not the only only way you can lose data. If you accidentally delete a file, it will be deleted on the mirror drive as well, The same is true if you pickup an infection, such as a virus or ransomware; then your mirror drive will also be infected (the same will be true of any drive or NAS actively connected to the computer). If someone (or soemting) knocks over the computer and it drops to the floor, the chances are excellent you will lose all your data (unless using all SSDs). If a power surge blows through any surge protection you have (it can happen), then your drives will likely get toasted. If someone steals your computer, then your data goes bye, bye. Then there is damage from fires, floods, storms, etc.,; adios data.

The only way to reasonably ensure data is safe is for it to exist in three separate places (keep in mind all the drives in a RAID are considered to be only one place). For most people, this means on the computer, on an onsite external backup drive(s), and on an offsite external backup drive(s). for a backup to be an actual backup, the drive(s) it's located on must be kept powered down and disconnected from the computer at all times except while updating the computer.

If a NAS is kept running and connected to the network the computer is on, then it is just redundancy, not a backup. For a NAS to be a backup, it must be kept powered down and disconnected from the network at all times except when updating the backup. This is not to say that there is no reason for a NAS to be connected running at all times. Additional redundancy gives better protection from drive failure. If you share data, such as movies, music, or photos, with other people, a NAS is a convenient way to do so. Just keep in mind it will not be a backup in that situation and may even become a conduit for infection to spread from computer to computer. also, maintaining an offisite version of the NAS may be expensive and cumbersome.

For most people, RAID in the computer and in a NAS is overkill and does not provide adequate protection from data loss. Maintaining three, separate copies of your data, especially the one offsite, may seem like a PITA, but it's worth it to reasonably ensure your data is safe. In the long run, it may even be more economical (less hardware involved with fewer failure points).