Windows 10: Best NAS RAID Mode level?

Hi,

My WD 8 TB My Cloud EX2 Ultra Network Attached Storage - Black (WDBVBZ0080JCH-EESN), came today and its showing 4 TB on the dashboard, I read on a website it's because of the RAID mode set to RAID1.

Does anyone have any experience with NAS drives as what option is the best for a home user, the options are as follows.

• RAID0
• RAID1 (Default)
• JBOD
• Spanning

Thanks for any help

:)

 

Nas drive enclosures

Im trying to decide what NAS hard disk enclosure to purchase. Im looking at Netgear 102 , aZyxel Ns320, and a Zyxel Nsa 325v2. They are Nas ready two bay units that support raid 0,1.. im not sure which would be best with Win 10. Opinions would be welcome.

 

Windows 10 PRO and RAID sets on my system NOW having currupt errors on BOOT up.

QUESTION with WIN10 PRO...

I NOW seem to have a problem with my RAID sets on my system NOW having currupt errors on BOOT up.

Since upgrading MY raid sets 3 (one is 2 xWD red 1TB disks RAID 1, one is 2 x Seagate 250GB NAS drives RAID 1, and one is 2 x 250GB Seagate NAS Raid 0). And the boot drivec: is a 320GB Seagate 7200RPM
on which WIN10 is loaded by FREE update.

Is anyone else experiancing problems with WIN10 and RAID disk sets??

OP - Windows 10 PRO and RAID sets

 

Hi.

Depends what you want to do.

Raid 0 Striping - pieces of the file are put on both drives. When you retrieve it speeds up the read as two drives are producing the data to the processor.

Raid 1 - Mirroring - What is written to one drive is written to the other drive. If you lose one drive your data is supposed to be safe. You replace bad drive and let the raid rebuild itself. (I run Raid 1 in my tower. I've had failures and done the rebuilds without issue.)

JBOD - Just a Bunch Of Disk - Individual Storage Drives as I understand it.

Spanning - one big storage partition.

So without understanding what you want it for, hard to recommend.


Ken

 

All i'm wanting to do is have it for a virtual backup for my files and data across OneDrive, Steam, Games etc.

 

One opinion

Raid 0 - No, this is all about speed

Spanning - No, at least for me, don't like all my eggs in one basket.

Raid 1 - yes - A resilient method of backing up data, although with a current limit of 4TB

JBOD - yes - You want a backup of your data, what is the chance of your main drive having a physical failure at the same time your NAS has a physical failure, assuming there is distance between them.

Unless you have a ton of data I like Raid 1.

While this gives you copies of your data I would still research if your NAS could be corrupted by processes such as Ransomware. When I do a backup it is kept offline. Again one opinion. Windows now has "Controlled Folder Access" which you may want to read about.

Change Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access Settings - Windows 10


Ken

 

I run RAID 1 - which makes the storage capability of the entire box = to the storage capability of only one HDD in the box because it is mirroring the data rather than spreading it across both disks. My data is valuable and I want the automatic backup of it that RAID 1 does.

 

Is it worth me using the RAID1 backup if I have 2 x 4 TB (8TB) as it would mean I only have 4 TB in total but it copies the data to the other drive?

My data is pretty big as I have loads of games, currently at just over 2TB in total.

 

It appears NavyLCDR and myself both like the redundancy.

How long did it take you to get 2TB of data? What is your estimate for the 2TB, time wise? Are you saving games or the data from games?

If your data is growing that fast then maybe you don't want Raid 1.

As I said in my previous post, what are the chances that you have a physical event that impacts computer and NAS at the same time. (Maybe consider UPS for NAS to eliminate electrical failure.) Of course this is physical, there is the virtual threat (Ransomware).


Ken

 

If you are using the NAS as backup storage for data you keep on a second drive already, then you are probably OK going with JBOD or spanning. I would look at which one stores complete data on each drive, and does not stripe or span it across drives, that way if one goes bad, you only lose 1/2 your data. I have two NAS units, each with 2x 3TB drives in them. But I am using my NAS units as primary storage, not backups. So I am pretty much counting on RAID 1 to keep my backup current.

 

Well my 2 TB as taken me a while to get that data, maybe 4 years in total. I'll say what my PC is doing at present then you guys can maybe suggest a way to use the NAS and which option to pick (RAID0, RAID1, JBOD or Spanning).

I'm using a Corsair Force GT 120GB (SSD for my Windows 10 OS), WD Blue SSHD 4TB (SSHD for my Applications on Windows 10) and the NAS for backup. Getting worried about the ransomware you was on about @Caledon Ken, how would you suggest I protect my NAS from security flaws. I'm using Bitdefender 2018 not Windows Defender by the way.

PS - I'm new with NAS drives its my first one.

Thanks

 

If you want redundancy in Backup Raid 1. If you want lots of space JBOD.

Myself I would use Raid 1 and deal with space issue when you get there, if you get there.

I don't have a good strategy for protecting NAS. There has been a lot of discussion of late about the Controlled Folder Access but this uses Defender. Looks really interesting in that it controls what programs are allowed to write to specific drives or folders. Defender needs to be in charge. I'm sure other AV's are going to cry foul (monopoly, predatory behaviour) and ask for access.

One sure fire way, disconnect the lan cable when you are not using. Makes it a PITA. Maybe your NAS has specific software / hardware controls.

Hopefully other members will comment. I'd be very interested. (and the answer can't be don't get infected.)


Ken

 

Hi folks

unlike the others here I use RAID 0 since it's the fastest and allows me to have max amount of storage space

HOWEVER THIS IS IMPORTANT : You need to backup data regularly as RAID 0 gives no protection if 1 HDD in the array fails -- my HDD's seem fairly reliable and as I do take backups (on to external HDD's) the risk for me is worth it. Since I'm running a Linux OS as my NAS server I'm using the software RAID (mdadm) which is streets faster than typical hardware RAID unless you have very expensive and dedicated RAID controllers and has the advantage that the RAID 0 array can be built out of any size HDD's --you don't need to have equal size HDD's to build the array.

It's largely a Risk to reward ratio - for me I like the speed of RAID 0 plus if I lose the array I can build it again easily enough from backups --if you need your system to be online 24 hrs then I'd go for RAID 1 or if you have enough HDD's RAID 10 (combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0).





Cheers
jimbo

 

So if I was to pick Raid 1 and get low on space after what option would I have? I would not be able to convert the drives to Raid 0 would I without loosing the data?

 

No you would not be able to convert. Both NavyLCDR and I have both recommended not using Raid 0. Frankly you are not in need of speed, you are doing a backup from a single drive over a network.

If you ran out of space you would install two bigger drives and rebuild you raid.

If you go raid zero and you have an issue you lose everything and have a total rebuild.

We've recommended Raid 1 or JBOD.