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Which RAID should I select for BEST backup?
Hello all, I just got my ReadyNAS 316, installed two 6 TB WD Red drives, and (with the help of the awesome support techs) got everything up and running. Now I need to figure out which RAID level/ty...
I back up shares (to backup NAS, not external USB drives, but the idea is the same). I've had a NAS for some years, and currently have ~20 shares (a couple less). The main issue with backup is that you can't let a share get bigger than the backup drive. I've had to reorganize my backups occasionally but in general it hasn't been much of a problem. Organization on the NAS takes a little thought, but with volumes of the size you are planning you will need some folder structure anyway.
When you back up the full volume, of course you need a destination drive that can hold the full volume. Once you overflow your initlal 6 TB volume size, that won't work (since there are no 12 TB USB drives). So you'll end up share-by-share anyway.
The RAID level you describe would require 3 RAID-1 volumes (one volume created for each pair of drives).
Removing the mirror and storing it off site is not recommended.
An alternative I like better:
use XRAID single redundancy, install 2 disks and create single share on the volume. Then back that share up to an external USB drive until the backup USB drive becomes full.
Then add another 6 TB drive to the array (which will expand by 6 TB) and create a second share. Put all new files into the second share, and start backing that up to a second USB drive.
Repeat the above when the second USB drive fills.
Cost per TB is similar to what you are proposing, and the NAS storage is much more efficient (holding 30 TB of media instead of only 18).
Sorry for the newbie questions here.
Right now, the two drives are inserted and according to my admin page I have Raid 1 and X-RAID is green which means that I am using X-RAID with single redundancy, correct? I am assuming it is a single volume (called 'data') as I just did the generic setup. When you say "create single share on the volume" (and please don't smack your forehead when I ask this), what do you mean?
readynas default the volume/array name to "data" and this is misleading because what stored in hard drives are data anyway.
should have provision to rename it to say "array1" or "volume 1" etc instead of having to destroy the "data" and then set up new array.
Yet one more question. I just don't get the X-RAID idea. If I have 5.5 TB of data on Drive A, 5.5 TB on Drive C, X-RAID only has 5.5 TB of "protection" on Drive B. If Drive A completely flatlines, can I get all the data back using Drive B? If Drive C completely flatlines, can I get all the data back using Drive B. If both Drive A and Drive C flatline, will I get all of my data back from Drive B?
With three or more disks X-RAID single-redundancy uses RAID-5. With three disks you could withstand the failure of any one disk.
There are of course other possible problemy you may run into including multiple disk failures. If the NAS will be used for primary storage then backups to USB disks, another NAS or some place else are vital.
Okay. So three of you have chimed in and I super appreciate it.
Summary: Do X-RAID. It will allow you to get back your data if any one drive fails. Don't use the RN 316 as a sole backup. Backup each disk to an external HD via USB. Store that external offsite.
traditional raid 0 no parity, so if one drive fails the whole array/volume will collapse.
raid 1 5 6 10 etc use parity for recreation of data if a hard drive fails. raid 1 and 5 allow one drive failure while 6 10 allow 2 drives failure.
u need to search internet for "raid" to understand more
x-raid is netgear readynas developed software to run on top of traditional raids. x-raid is useful for expansion vertically and horizontally
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