Hard drive thoughts?

[jdepould]

OK, so my new terabyte drives are arriving today, and I'm trying to decide how to reallocate everything.

Currently:
3x500GB WD Studio drives (USB/FW)
1x500GB WD drive (USB only)
1x300GB Maxtor drive (USB/FW)

New:
2x1TB WD Studio drives (USB/FW)

I'd like to ditch the one USB drive, and probably the Maxtor, but I can't really decide how I want to set everything else up.

Right now, I've got about 500GB of photos on two different drives.

Basically:
Photo A (studio) = main LR
Photo B (studio) = dupe of Photo A
WD USB = system backup + general storage
Backup storage (studio) = dupe of WD USB
Maxtor = 2006/2007 photos + general storage

The new setup I'm thinking:
Terabyte RAID 1 array = LR main
500GB RAID 1 array = general storage
500GB studio = system backup

Anyone have any better ideas? Am I missing anything?

[sk66]

I'm not 100% clear on your arrangement...
Are you going to configure the 2 new drives as a single raid1 array? 2 of ther 3 WD 500's as a 500Gb raid 1?

Here's my thought's. 1 500gb fw as portable working drive. 500gb raid setup as home working drive/ general. And the 1tb raid as backup /storage for all.

I have my 1tb network drive setup with cronosync for direct copy backups of portable drives, and with time machine for the laptop incrimental backups. The larger size is better suited for backups/archive storage....especially if Raid1. Raid 1 is "slower" than working straight off a drive, thats why I suggest using a singular fw drive for a portable working drive...Might be a consideration for your home working drive as well.

[jdepould]

None of these are portable drives. I've got a bunch of LaCie rugged drives for portable work.

Yes, I'm thinking of RAIDing the new terabyte drives, and two of the three old drives. Then using the leftover old drive to backup my internal drive (time machine).

[sk66]

Hardware raid controller or software?
Either way, it'll run slower, or be riskier (i.e. raid0).

I'd use the 1tb raid1 as backup just due to size. Otherwise I'd use one 1tb drive as my working drive...(I'm assuming that it'll be faster than the others due to being new...probably 7200rpm etc)

Another option might be to run the 1tb raid1 as primary and use 2 500gb drives as a raid0 for one of the 1tb drives.

Perhaps the "best overall" for performance and security would be to run a single 1tb as the working drive(fastest). Run the second as a daily backup with a raid0 (2x 500gb) backing that up. Daily you would have your primary drive, a mirrored copy(non-concurrent raid1), and a striped copy.

BUT, have you considered off site storage? It might be better to loose some of the "network" storage/ raid security in order to gain some "offsite storage". Take a weekly copy in to work or to a friends house. I've lost stuff when a drive crashed and I didn't have a current backup.....I lost EVERYHTING when my house was robbed and they took the computer AND backup drives. And if not theft, there's always fire and natural disasters...

[jdepould]

Software, just using the built-in OSX RAID functionality.

Right now I'm not using RAID, and it's a pain to make sure all my files live on two drives manually.

I'm pretty sure the drives I'm going to end up keeping are all 7200 rpm. The older studio drives are only about a year old.

I don't necessarily care about having a striped copy, but I want the backup to be hands-off, so I don't loose anything when a drive fails.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Software, just using the built-in OSX RAID functionality.

Right now I'm not using RAID, and it's a pain to make sure all my files live on two drives manually.

I'm pretty sure the drives I'm going to end up keeping are all 7200 rpm. The older studio drives are only about a year old.

I don't necessarily care about having a striped copy, but I want the backup to be hands-off, so I don't loose anything when a drive fails.

crono-sync, or super-duper (I use crono-sync) for automatic backups...crono sync is also great for ensuring 2 drives are synced (i.e. laptop updates network drive when connected). There's also JaBack which is free and has the ability to monitor your chosen directory/drive and immediately back up any file that changes.
Personally, I prefer the compromise of improved performance and automated nightly backups over raid1, especially if it is going to be software controlled.

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by sk66

crono-sync, or super-duper (I use crono-sync) for automatic backups...crono sync is also great for ensuring 2 drives are synced (i.e. laptop updates network drive when connected). There's also JaBack which is free and has the ability to monitor your chosen directory/drive and immediately back up any file that changes.
Personally, I prefer the compromise of improved performance and automated nightly backups over raid1, especially if it is going to be software controlled.

Makes sense, thanks a bunch for the help. I'll probably go with one of those.