[X4U] MacPro RAID setup

[Alexandre]

Wes, thanks for the info and links. 

After further research, I've decided to set up a RAID 10, seems safer. I also read that one should "zero out data" before setting up the RAID, which is what I'm doing right now: 5 hours per 3TB drive... 

Regards, Alexandre 


Sent from my other mobile device

On Apr 27, 2012, at 16:43, Wes James <comptekki at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 5:47 PM, alexandre <list at kapellos.com> wrote:
>> Hi
>> 
>> Last week I bought a MacPro 2x2.4GHz (mid 2010), with a 2TB hard drive. At the same time, I bought a 120GB SSD onto which I loaded OS 10.7.3 and all my applications. Over the weekend I'll be buying 4 3TB drives that I'll setup as a RAID. Since I'm not very familiar with RAIDs and despite some intense googling, I have a few questions.
>> 
>> I understand the difference between RAID 1+0 and 0+1, but which is safer? I've read that one is better than the other but I haven't really understood why.
> 
> Based on the second and third links below, I'd say RAID 1+0 (also
> called RAID 10) is safer.  Safer in that your chances for total
> failure are less.
> 
>> What are the advantages of a nested RAID over, say, 2 independant striped RAIDs where one is a Time Machine backup of the other?
>> 
>> I'm not so much interested in speed as I am in keeping my data safe. Should I go the nested RAID route (0+1 or 1+0), I will be backing up to 1 or 2 external FW 800 drives.
>> 
>> FWIW, I work a lot with photographs (RAW files).
>> 
>> Any tips or additional information is appreciated!
>> 
>> Regards, Alexandre
> 
> Here are some things to look at if you haven't already:
> 
> General Info
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
> 
> Why is RAID 1+0 better than RAID 0+1?
> http://aput.net/~jheiss/raid10/
> 
> RAID 1+0 is the Cadillac of RAID
> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/raid-1-0-is-the-cadillac-of-raid/131
> 
> I'm glad you also mentioned that your are backing up, as RAID is not
> "backup", but a method for maintainingg up-time.  It provides an
> increased hope factor that you will have time to replace the failed
> disk and rebuild the RAID before any more disks fail and you have to
> take the time to restore all from backup, which can equate to a much
> longer down-time.
> 
> -wes
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