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Author Topic: Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks  (Read 4899 times)

2haven

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Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks
« on: March 27, 2010, 11:18:34 AM »
Hi guys, I've just got myself a DNS323 (v1.08) but have not gotten hard disks for it yet. Have a few questions regarding this device hope you guys can help!

1. I intend to get a 1TB Hitachi disk,and start transferring my files into in. A few months later, I'd get another of the same disk and configure it as RAID1 to backup my first disk. Is this possible and will I encounter any data integrity problems when trying to do this?

2. Lets say a few years down the road I ran out of space and would like to get a bigger capacity disk. Can I simply unplug one disk from the device, slot the bigger capacity one in and expect the device to mirror the data to the newer disk ???
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gunrunnerjohn

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Re: Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2010, 11:46:43 AM »
First off, RAID is NOT backup!  The only purpose of RAID in this box is to allow continued access in the event of a hard disk failure.

If you want backup, use a real backup, but don't count on RAID as a backup.
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Remember: Data you don't have two copies of is data you don't care about!
PS: RAID of any level is NOT a second copy.

fordem

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Re: Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2010, 03:42:07 PM »
Quote from: 2haven on March 27, 2010, 11:18:34 AM
Hi guys, I've just got myself a DNS323 (v1.08) but have not gotten hard disks for it yet. Have a few questions regarding this device hope you guys can help!

1. I intend to get a 1TB Hitachi disk,and start transferring my files into in. A few months later, I'd get another of the same disk and configure it as RAID1 to backup my first disk. Is this possible and will I encounter any data integrity problems when trying to do this?

2. Lets say a few years down the road I ran out of space and would like to get a bigger capacity disk. Can I simply unplug one disk from the device, slot the bigger capacity one in and expect the device to mirror the data to the newer disk ???

The answer to the question you asked is YES, the answer to the question you were intending to ask is NO.

Yes - you can replace a disk in the RAID array with a larger capacity one and the unit will rebuild the array using the larger disk, BUT, the RAID array will remain the same size and the "additional" capacity is lost - so, NO, you cannot migrate to larger capacity disks that way.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

2haven

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Re: Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2010, 09:50:53 AM »
Quote from: gunrunnerjohn on March 27, 2010, 11:46:43 AM
First off, RAID is NOT backup!  The only purpose of RAID in this box is to allow continued access in the event of a hard disk failure.

If you want backup, use a real backup, but don't count on RAID as a backup.


So, if I wana do a backup for the stuff in my device, is there a script available that I can use that runs automatically to backup files in hdd1 to hdd2?
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2haven

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  • Posts: 7
Re: Newbie here needs some advice on hard disks
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2010, 09:52:36 AM »
Quote from: fordem on March 27, 2010, 03:42:07 PM
The answer to the question you asked is YES, the answer to the question you were intending to ask is NO.

Yes - you can replace a disk in the RAID array with a larger capacity one and the unit will rebuild the array using the larger disk, BUT, the RAID array will remain the same size and the "additional" capacity is lost - so, NO, you cannot migrate to larger capacity disks that way.

Alright! Thanks for the info
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