Windows 10: Best NAS RAID Mode level?

Thanks a lot guys, I’ve read Raid 1 half’s the data of the files, example of backup files 10gb it would half it on the Raid 1 to 5gb?

 

Not sure what you read.

If a file is 10 MB on your computer and you back it up to a Raid cluster that is in a Raid 1 configuration it will be 10MB on both drives. There is no 50% compression because its raid 1

This should not be confused with your NAS potential. Yours currently has 8TB of storage. If you go Raid 1 you have 4TB as it needs to make two complete copies, one on each drive.

Now if your unit has a compression algorithm that allows it to compress data then maybe it would be less but could you guarantee 50% reduction on every file, that is something I have not experienced.

RAID level 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 | Advantage, disadvantage, use

Ken

 

OK, thanks all for the replies, I'll go RAID1.

 

Since you are using the NAS device as a backup, it would mean that your NAS is the second copy of the data, and your hard drive on your machine is the source. In this case, using RAID or JBOD or spanning isn't as big of a deal. Unless you managed to lose your NAS and your original hard drive at the exact same time.

I always harp on the fact that you should keep backups "offsite". Meaning don't keep it at your house. My sisters house burned to the ground. Having a NAS copy in her house would have bought her nothing. She would have lost the source data (the HDD in the computer) at the same time she lost the NAS (also in her home during the fire).

 

I couldn't agree more. Today I took my backup drive to the safety deposit box. An activity I perform every month.

 

Hi there
whatever you use - you will always need backup.

The argument here is whether you can afford to lose HALF your HDD capacity by using RAID 1 with the advantage of having a mega reliable data store or gain a huge amount of speed by using RAID 0 but at a risk of losing the array if any HDD in the array fails (albeit these days not a huge risk).

I've said since I already copy data to external USB backup the speed issue for me is worth it. If an array fails on my system I can restore via a re-build and in 3 years I haven't had to do this at all --although I do know HDD's can and do fail (fortunately not as often as people might think). I keep my USB external backups off site after taking them so I can always restore my data if necessary - even if it takes time --I'm not running a critical 24/7 type of server etc.

For other users if you take decent backups I can't see what the gain in using RAID 1 actually is for home users if you don't need 24/7 100% online operation. Running say a small business with payments / shopping carts etc then RAID 1 makes perfect sense.

I think you really need to decide what you actually want to do before even using RAID at all. Could be you'd be better off just using JBOD (just a bunch of disks) and ensuring you backup data regularly to other devices.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Do you guys put your NAS in hibernate mode when your not using them? Just noticed my NAS lets me go from a RAID partition to a JBOD without losing data which is a nice feature.

Learned a lot on NAS drives already thanks guys *Biggrin

Wonder if the app, Western Digital Anti-Virus Essentials would block viruses and ransomware? @Caledon Ken.

 

It's best to shut your NAS off when you're not making a backup to protect it from ransomeware. If it turned on then randsomeware will encrypt it and any other devices that are on your network and powered on.

 

When you go from Raid 1 to JBOD it just cuts the duplication. A lot of raid 1's you can pull a drive and use it somewhere else. Not be be tried with Raid 0.

WD Anti-Virus Essentials looks like another AV product that runs within your NAS's OS.

So it has a shot at protecting, just like your AV on computer. Not sure where they are getting their expertise / signatures, like a white labeling deal. (Under the cover it could be coming from one of the big shops, maybe its theirs.)

I'm really warming up the new Controlled Folders Access. If a "Program" does not have authority to write, it can't. This is what we've needed for years.

 

and ideally don't locate your NAS beside computer. Local events in the home will impact both the computer and NAS.

 

Hi there

JBOD is actually quite a nice feature - especially if using different size (capacity) HDD's in those multi-bay external HDD enclosures. The computer software / hardware combination ensures that for ONE USB3 connection into the computer from the multi-bay device the data always gets read to / written from the correct HDD. I think if you don't need the speed of RAID 0 this is a good option as a failure on one HDD in the JBOD set won't mean a loss of data on the whole kybosh (depending though on how the files are spread across the HDD's of course).

Whatever system you use backing up to more than one set of media is absolutely important - although people say this ad nauseam on these forums there are still loads who never take backups and then complain that they've lost their data and can't get good help on recovering it.

As far as AV systems are concerned it's up to the relevant OS to handle that -- in general though Linux systems and proprietary NAS systems (which have their own OS in the box) are better protected against than Windows.

I find for things like Linux using a good firewall plus using the Routers firewall is often far more effective than typical Windows AV products - but again this depends on where you surf the web, what you download and a whole slew of other activities.

Cheers
jimbo

 

The other benefit of RAID1 is that if a disk goes faulty the service is maintained.
You just swap the disk out and it then rebuilds the new disk by itself.
With the capacity of disks these days you can normally get away with just a pair

 

Hi there
@robgr

Very true but I don't think you actually understood the underlying question

Viz: OP asked What level of RAID to use

Most people got side tracked by getting too involved with technical answer rather than what the OP really wanted his system to do.

First thing is to ask what OP wanted. Now if He's already taking backups why would he sacrifice half of his HDD capacity to use RAID 1 -- the benefits are of course well known and if you have something that has to be online 24 / 7 --say a business payment system etc then RAID 1 makes sense.

Otherwise since you already have backups there's nothing wrong in using RAID 0 (speed) or JBOD (maximum capacity - especially for a load of HDD's of unequal capacity), On any failure OP can always re-build RAID 0 array / JBOD from the backups.

I think people need to understand what the OP wanted to do rather than the purely 100% technical "best answer".

I've experienced it more and more these days on client sites where a load of so called "consultancies" get involved -- seems more and more people - especially from some of those excruciatingly nameless off shored "consultancies" in SE Asia etc seem to write the code first and then expect the business to re-design the business processes around the spaghetti like sludge code that emanates from those sorts of places.

I'm sure any of you having worked on largish projects involving networking or large ERP systems like S.A.P etc know what I'm getting at here.

Cheers
jimbo