First time trying RAID1, anything I should know?

[BTGbullseye]

Ok, so I found some Constellation ES 2TB drives (ST2000NM0033) for around $40 apiece new, and decided to try out a pair for my first RAID. The drives are here, but the cables are not, so I figured I'd ask if there is anything I should know before trying to muddle through a RAID1 on my own. System specs are in my signature, I will be keeping the 512GB Mushkin as the boot drive, and keeping the EX900 NVMe for games/torrent storage. These are going to be used exclusively inside my case, and for backing up either video files that will infrequently be used, or for general backups of files I consider "important".

 

If you're wondering how I, as a very tech savvy guy, have never done a RAID before, it's because I've never needed to. Always a spare drive somewhere, and no inclination to get an add-in card or set up software for RAID. This is the first time in 20+ years I've had 4 drives fail on me in very short order, (under a month, only lost non-critical video files though because I'm very good about having a backup somewhere) and I had to replace them. I could just do as I have been with manual duplication everywhere, but I'd rather try out RAID.

Edited December 10, 2019 by BTGbullseye
Wrong model number, I had the HP model number instead of the Seagate model number.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Those drives aren't new, there probably used. They haven't made that model for a few years now, and that price is way under what a 2tb enterprise grade drive should be.

 

 The best way to do raid for a setup like your is in software. Id use storage spaces in windows 10 here, and put the drives in a pool, then make a mirrored virtual drive.

[BTGbullseye]

56 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those drives aren't new, there probably used. They haven't made that model for a few years now, and that price is way under what a 2tb enterprise grade drive should be.

Sealed in the factory anti-static bag... Unless the seller has the equipment to do that, and wipe the S.M.A.R.T. stats, I'd say they're new. https://www.newegg.com/p/1Z4-000P-024M4

 

56 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The best way to do raid for a setup like your is in software. Id use storage spaces in windows 10 here, and put the drives in a pool, then make a mirrored virtual drive.

Would that just be in the Disk Management interface or something?

[BTGbullseye]

Proof of the drive being what it's supposed to be, since there is apparently at least 1 skeptic.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, BTGbullseye said:

Sealed in the factory anti-static bag... Unless the seller has the equipment to do that, and wipe the S.M.A.R.T. stats, I'd say they're new. https://www.newegg.com/p/1Z4-000P-024M4

 

Would that just be in the Disk Management interface or something?

Thats sold by go hard drive. They refub drives. Its almost certainly a refurb drive. ESP as its say hp, seagate doesn't sell those new to random buyers like thayt, and go hard drive has the stuff to wipe smart.

 

Do it in control panel. Search storage spaces.

[BTGbullseye]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Thats sold by go hard drive. They refub drives. Its almost certainly a refurb drive. ESP as its say hp, seagate doesn't sell those new to random buyers like thayt, and go hard drive has the stuff to wipe smart.

Well, they do perform to spec according to my few short tests in CrystalDiskMark, at least when in my external dock. If they fail sometime after 1 year of use, I'll consider them worth the price.

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do it in control panel. Search storage spaces.

Ok, found it. Thanks for the help. I'll let you know if anything goes wrong.

[For Science!]

8 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

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I guess the elephant in the room is that RAID1 is not a backup solution. If you miswrite data, it gets miswritten to both drives and is lost. If you accidentally delete a file, it is deleted from both drive and is lost. If your house burns, both drives burn and is lost. 

[BTGbullseye]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

I guess the elephant in the room is that RAID1 is not a backup solution. If you miswrite data, it gets miswritten to both drives and is lost. If you accidentally delete a file, it is deleted from both drive and is lost. If your house burns, both drives burn and is lost. 

I have no data that is valuable enough to have offsite data storage for, apart from my free Google Drive... We're not talking about a business here, just my personal stuff that I don't want to have to rip or download again. (though that is an option) No one else is ever on my computer, so I don't have to worry about that either. Bad writes or accidental deletion are not that big of a risk for me, as I do in fact take care not to let that happen without a confirmation. (I use TeraCopy for file transfer verification)

 

The only significant risk for me right now is hardware failure, which RAID1 does adequately protect against.

[nosirrahx]

4 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

I have no data that is valuable enough to have offsite data storage for, apart from my free Google Drive... We're not talking about a business here, just my personal stuff that I don't want to have to rip or download again. (though that is an option) No one else is ever on my computer, so I don't have to worry about that either. Bad writes or accidental deletion are not that big of a risk for me, as I do in fact take care not to let that happen without a confirmation. (I use TeraCopy for file transfer verification)

 

The only significant risk for me right now is hardware failure, which RAID1 does adequately protect against.

You are not really looking at RAID 1 the right way. There are many events that render RAID 1 useless if your goal is to avoid needing to "rip or download again".

RAID 1 lets you keep using a system uninterrupted if a drive fails so that you can complete current tasks and then replace the failed drive to rebuild during your existing scheduled downtime. RAID 1 is downtime mitigation. If that is not your goal, you have chosen the wrong solution.

 

[BTGbullseye]

8 hours ago, nosirrahx said:

You are not really looking at RAID 1 the right way. There are many events that render RAID 1 useless if your goal is to avoid needing to "rip or download again".

RAID 1 lets you keep using a system uninterrupted if a drive fails so that you can complete current tasks and then replace the failed drive to rebuild during your existing scheduled downtime. RAID 1 is downtime mitigation. If that is not your goal, you have chosen the wrong solution.

Then what sort of solution do I need if I want both drives to have the same stored data, appear as a single drive to Windows, yet be able to work normally if one drive fails?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

Then what sort of solution do I need if I want both drives to have the same stored data, appear as a single drive to Windows, yet be able to work normally if one drive fails?

Thats what raid is good for, but backups are probably better here. THen you are protected from things like deletion, and ransomware, and corruption, and you probably don't need the uptime.

[BTGbullseye]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Thats what raid is good for, but backups are probably better here. THen you are protected from things like deletion, and ransomware, and corruption, and you probably don't need the uptime.

What sort of backups then? Mirrored drives?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, BTGbullseye said:

What sort of backups then? Mirrored drives?

Something like windows built in backup, or a file copy with snapshots.

[BTGbullseye]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Something like windows built in backup, or a file copy with snapshots.

That's a little more complex than I want. I just need them to store what I put on them, and have the exact functionality of a single drive. (with the ability to work if one physical drive fails) They don't even have to work outside of Windows.