Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 27, 2006 Posted October 27, 2006 I been doing some research on how RAID works and so far I am leaning towards a RAID 1 configuration. The main question that I have that I am not too sure about is that in the event that the drive fails or I want to re-image one of the drives (migrating?) how would I come by doing that? Does the hardware controller take care of that or the Intel Raid software? Do I need any additional software to backup my data? Is it really worth going RAID 1 with two identical drives and expect fairly painless data recovery? Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinvented Posted October 27, 2006 Posted October 27, 2006 When running in RAID 1, it mirrors the hard drive. IF the drive fails, you will still be able to boot into Windows, and if you install the Intel Matrix Storage software, it will alert you in the taskbar, that a drive is being repaired, and the data is being verified. Data recovery is great with it. I've tested it with a couple of my 250GB WD Caviars, and it works awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 28, 2006 Posted October 28, 2006 When running in RAID 1, it mirrors the hard drive. IF the drive fails, you will still be able to boot into Windows, and if you install the Intel Matrix Storage software, it will alert you in the taskbar, that a drive is being repaired, and the data is being verified. Data recovery is great with it. I've tested it with a couple of my 250GB WD Caviars, and it works awesome! That sounds awesome so the Intel Matrix software will automatically reimage the drive that was replaced? What if I want to reimage the drive regardless of nothing wrong with it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinvented Posted October 28, 2006 Posted October 28, 2006 Yes, it will automatically tell you if somethings wrong after the computer posts on a diagnostic screen. I don't think you can reimage the drive if nothings wrong with it, as you'd have to set up the RAID array again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 28, 2006 Posted October 28, 2006 Yes, it will automatically tell you if somethings wrong after the computer posts on a diagnostic screen. I don't think you can reimage the drive if nothings wrong with it, as you'd have to set up the RAID array again. That is what I thought. Probably have to go into the RAID BIOS and do the re-image from there like if it were setup brand new from the begining except one drive has actual data. Now one concern that I have as well is that in case that a virus like program takes over then its going to affect both drives and the array would be rendered useless. So im thinking that RAID is good insurance as long as the drive fault is machanical and/or logical (corrupt files) as long as it is not virus infected. Correct me if im wrong in this assumption. If this holds true then using DVD-R would make more sense for data backup. I would still consider maybe using a combination of RAID 0 and DVD-R backup procedures. Thanks for the info so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thespin Posted October 28, 2006 Posted October 28, 2006 You are right. Viruses are imaged too and so is any damage they cause. But you can also copy viruses in your DVD backup. But at least in this case you have several versions of your data if you do regular backups ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 28, 2006 Posted October 28, 2006 You are right. Viruses are imaged too and so is any damage they cause. But you can also copy viruses in your DVD backup. But at least in this case you have several versions of your data if you do regular backups ... That is right but what I plan to do is to install Windows XP with all the drivers and basic programs. This is so at least I dont have to start from scratch if the HDD fails. I always had the bad habit of installing everything and skiping on that crucial backup. Now that I am building a new system I really should give priority to a clean initial backup and save me some headaches later on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGone Posted October 29, 2006 Posted October 29, 2006 Actually in general speak raid 1 is useless in a home system...Why? To me it is because drives don't fail that often anyway and if you are doing the backup/make image as you suggest you did not or have not been doing...then you have or should have an up to date image to put on a new drive if the old one failed...so you have spent months/years running two drives without any additional space...wearing out two drives to guard against one drive having mechanical failure...and that is the 'only' insurance raid 1 provides...insurance against the pure mechanical failure of the drive...raid 1 will politely corrupt both drives from an error on one to the other in mirror...if the error is by virus or just a file corrupted...servers need or used raid 1 and most a way more sophisticated raid like 5 or a derivation of that...so they could hot-swap a drive and continue on using the array. Then the normally extra speed producer raid 0 is considered...and the MTBF is always listed as twice as fast as Raid 1...why? Because it has two drives so "however quick" the odds are of "A"/any drive failing is doubled...but there again...how often to drives fail? And then if you are doing the punctual image save and backup on a regular basis...simply replace the bad drive in raid 0 and then put image back and off and running again...so these oddsmakers and predictions are often not what they seem and can cloud the whole issue...with good imaging software and user presistance to KEEP the images current...hard drive failure should not ever be an issue...well not in this age anyway...slack off on keeping a current image and then all bets are off. RGone...:confused: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 30, 2006 Posted October 30, 2006 Actually in general speak raid 1 is useless in a home system...Why? To me it is because drives don't fail that often anyway and if you are doing the backup/make image as you suggest you did not or have not been doing...then you have or should have an up to date image to put on a new drive if the old one failed...so you have spent months/years running two drives without any additional space...wearing out two drives to guard against one drive having mechanical failure...and that is the 'only' insurance raid 1 provides...insurance against the pure mechanical failure of the drive...raid 1 will politely corrupt both drives from an error on one to the other in mirror...if the error is by virus or just a file corrupted...servers need or used raid 1 and most a way more sophisticated raid like 5 or a derivation of that...so they could hot-swap a drive and continue on using the array. Then the normally extra speed producer raid 0 is considered...and the MTBF is always listed as twice as fast as Raid 1...why? Because it has two drives so "however quick" the odds are of "A"/any drive failing is doubled...but there again...how often to drives fail? And then if you are doing the punctual image save and backup on a regular basis...simply replace the bad drive in raid 0 and then put image back and off and running again...so these oddsmakers and predictions are often not what they seem and can cloud the whole issue...with good imaging software and user presistance to KEEP the images current...hard drive failure should not ever be an issue...well not in this age anyway...slack off on keeping a current image and then all bets are off. What kind of DVD-R software can you recommend that would be able to record an exact image of the hdd? Is there software out there that can back up to a DVD-R and restore the backup back into the HDD with a few simple steps and be reliable? Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praz Posted October 30, 2006 Posted October 30, 2006 Acronis True Image Has never faild me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeaze_Mcleod Posted October 30, 2006 Posted October 30, 2006 Acronis True Image Has never faild me. If you may can you give me a low down on how personally have used it to back up and restore an image on the HDD? Thanks? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted October 30, 2006 Posted October 30, 2006 Acronis is the best when it comes to backing up an entire drive to media like dvd+r to find out how to use it, you should visit their site, or google a little bit if you plan to use it three of us (rgone, me, praz) use it and its the best (I'm an old Norton Ghost user heh) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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