Should I Use RAID for Backup?

[@askleonotenboom]

No... You could be making things worse.

[@osamabinladen824]

I'm afraid of raid

[@jas_bataille]

@@osamabinladen824 You don't need to be afraid of RAIDs. Depending on your use, a RAID 5 or RAID 10 with auto-saving features can be a God send. *But* - and this is very important - those things only matters for people who need 24/7 servers, because RAIDs are designed for one thing : *resisting power losses and loss of drives, not loss of data.* Sure, it you physically break one of the drives in a RAID 0, and, by magic, the other is fine - then you could consider this a back-up. But it's a physical back-ups, as *all* back-ups are. And, if you erase data you need from disk 1 on a RAID 0... ...then you just also lost it on disk 2...!!! Point in case : RAIDs are for critical-use servers, *not* for home users. I don't have a RAID at home, I have a JBDOD, which takes a bunch of smaller drives to make one big drive. Want the best encryption in the world? Create a JBOD, and left one of the drives in it at the bank. The others will not be accessible from anywhere. If you find someone who can get through this without physically getting the last drive needed to access all drives as one, you let me know.

[@zeuskyst]

I love this guy he answers the question in the first 2 seconds. Unlike other KZbinrs who are like watch till the end

[@AndrewW2733]

Backup boils down to the following easy mnemonic 3-2-1+1 -- You need 3 copies of the data, the data should be stored on 2 different media types, 1 copy should be offsite and 1 copy should be offline (these copies can be both offline & offsite and it satisifies the requirement). Using this strategy will provide a robust recovery process! Edited to fix typos

[@gabrielleszafir]

Thank you so so much - you have no idea how long I've been trying to find an answer to this question in layman's terms. Really appreciate you!

[@codyalan9379]

I have to say, I am only a minute and thirty seconds in and you have already taught me more, answered my question quicker, and have me wanting to continue watching more than all of these other 'channels'. You definitely have a new subscriber in me!! Now back to the video 😎

[@CookyMonzta]

I imagine that also means I should not use JBOD for backup, because word has it that, in many cases, if a drive in JBOD fails, the entire JBOD storage will fail... ...But what if I have a backup of my JBOD storage on one very large drive? My JBOD backup is on four 4TB drives (16TB total), and I intend to back that storage up on a single 16TB drive.

[@jas_bataille]

Me : "No, you should not do this!" Leo : "No." Me : well that is all the validation I needed! *cancel expensive session with therapist*

[@CharlesChoMD]

Still didn't get the answer I was looking for, Q= should I use RAID for backup? To elaborate: I have three different sets= desktops has their own large (2-4TB) disk that use as storage. I have 1 dedicated barebone TrueNAS and 1 Dell 720 server for sever VM and plan to put TrueNAS on Dell 720 as well. I want to migrate all the data from barebone TrueNAS to Dell R720 server with TrueNAS-VM with RAID 1, and use barebone TrueNAS one as backup only system. Question is: should I use barebone machine which will be only used as backup system use RAID? Or should I just buy large 16TB disk with no RAID for barebone backup system? I feel it is so much waste of money to have RAID for this 16TB backup only system (mean, I have to buy 2 of 16TB) while I already have RAID on NAS which sync file from desktop. (However, desktop has only files that are actively used, so basically RAID NAS has all the files including archives..) I had WAVLINK docking system that I used to buy internal hard drive, back up and store them on cabinet but when I tried to retrives years later, I found drive failed even sitting on drawer for years, so I'm trying to get backup system like another NAS.. but should I use raid on that 2nd NAS that will be solely used as back up use RAID as well) Thank you.

[@vindicatedafi]

So think of RAID as another level from preventing disaster but still always have a backup ready to go. RAID-5 prevents the shutdown of production from 1 drive or disk failing but there is always a chance the whole thing fails and thats when your backups come into play.

[@ronnor58]

I was curious to know what you would use as a safe redundant backup. I was not aware of a RAID controller failure. I am getting ready to build my own computer for video editing and I was going to use RAID as back-up, but now I'm not sure what to do. Any advice is welcome. I am also curios to know why you cannot fix a RAID controller. Newbie first time builder here.

[@askleonotenboom]

Oh, you can fix a RAID controller. it's typically pricy, and often means replacing the RAID controller. It has to be the exact same controller, though.

[@pizzomedia7261]

Great video. I’m a videographer looking to backup big 4k files. My strategy is the use an external ssd to work from and copy to two other external Seagate exos 14tb drives for backup, no raid. I will also backup files in the cloud using backblaze. Anything to consider with this strategy or is it pretty good? Thanks!

[@askleonotenboom]

This sounds good.

[@ericrogers9521]

So what do you recommend for backup with a RAID 5 system?

[@askleonotenboom]

Any decent backup tool. The storage technology in this case (RAID5) has no impact on the backup tool used. Macrium Reflect, EaseUS Todo, etc are all good solutions.

[@soporteproser2937]

This Channel is going places, thanks for the great content.

[@harun3Ddigitalartist]

thank you Leo...

[@davidlagesse3398]

Using RAID will kill-off of all your Computer Bugs! LOL!

[@jas_bataille]

Don't you know that?!!!

[@MichaelAddlesee]

But the target for each backup copy of your data could itself be a RAID array giving a speed & reliability advantage for each copy of the data. I think your video title should really be ""Should I use RAID as my only backup", then the answer really is NO!

[@andrewwigglesworth3030]

Yes, exactly. I use rdiff-backup locally, and its target is a RAID 1 enclosure. The way this question is posed and answered in this video potentially causes more confusion.

[@rachelkarengreen99]

I have been manually copying my important photos/videos to 2 hard drives for redundancy, is there an easier to way to do backup? I'm new to this, and I thought RAID was supposed to solve worries of hard drive failure, but I guess not. Now I'm confused as to which direction to go from here!

[@NoEgg4u]

A RAID 1 or RAID 5 will prevent data loss, if you have a single drive failure. That does not mean that you should not do backups. If you get hit with a virus or ransomware, no RAID will save you. If you accidentally screw up an important file, no RAID will save you. A copy (a backup) of your data, stored on a USB drive, will save you. RAID is for performance and/or reliability. Different RAID levels are simply different configurations (the level has nothing to do with which one is better ... the number simply identifies the configuration). RAID 0 (two or more drives) is 100% for performance. But if any drive in your RAID fails, you lose everything. RAID 1 (an even number of drives) is 100% for reliability. If you lose a drive, you lose nothing. RAID 5 (three or more drives) is for both performance and reliability (close to RAID 0 performance). You can lose any one drive and keep going. For RAID 0, if a drive fails, then... after you replace the failed drive, you create a new RAID 0 (makes your computer see a single drive), and once you format it, then you copy your data over from a backup. For RAID 1 and RAID 5, if a single drive fails, your computer will keep running like nothing happened (other than a warning). When you replace the failed drive, your RAID controller will automatically populate the new drive from your other drives, and when done, you will have fault tolerance, again. If two drives happen to fail, then kiss your data goodbye. You will have to replace the failed drives, create a new RAID, and restore your data from a backup. Copying important files (photos / videos) to a second drive is helpful, but not all encompassing. For example, when you save all types of settings on your computer (even simple things, like which icons are where), if you then have to replace your drive, all of your settings will be gone. Do you have copies of all of the installation files for all of the programs that you installed? Do you have all of your registration, product keys, etc, info? If you lose your drive, then restoring from a backup to a new drive will put everything back in place. Otherwise, you will have to re-install Windows and re-install everything else. If you do a full backup, then... if your drive fails, you can replace the drive and load back all of your data from a backup. After doing so, it will be like nothing happened.

[@jack91522]

If I had a 2 bay nas. Wouldnt configuring it as raid0 then add an external single disk backup be the optimal setup? Maximizes 2 bay capacity, speed, and a backup in case the raid0 disk fails?

[@askleonotenboom]

As long as you consider the NAS as "one" thing, and the other external disk as another, then it sounds quite reasonable.

[@jas_bataille]

Sure, but remember something *very* important : IF you delete something on your RAID 0, it it deleted on all the drives on that RAID. If after this fact you back-up your RAID by first erasing the back-up entirely and then re-uploading all of your updated RAID's content in order to have a fresh updated back-up, *you will have lost those files forever*. You should consider RAID 10 instead IMHO but it does requires 4 drives (two in RAID 1 and two in RAID 0) so not applicable in your case. Still - if you don't need the speed, avoid RAID 0. This is from experience : I lost data the same exact way I described here, by removing a file without realizing it on the RAID and then backing it up fresh.

[@jack91522]

@@jas_bataille I'm using hyperbackup which is incremental allowing me to go back to different differentials

[@EarlyDawnTravels]

“I” stands for Independent not Inexpensive.

[@dimitrz2000]

Is Raid even a thing in the current era ?

[@askleonotenboom]

Yup. While the speed may not be as big an issue (with SSDs), the resiliency it offers is still valuable.

[@dimitrz2000]

@@askleonotenboom Thanks

[@jas_bataille]

​@@dimitrz2000 All servers with multiple users should be configured in a RAID array! This is because all servers running 24/7 can suffer power losses and drive failures. RAIDs are specifically made to prevent those things from stopping servers! For instance, if one drive fail in a RAID 0 then it doesn't matter since all drives contain the same data. Or, in different RAIDs like I believe RAID 1, 5, and 10 (or 1+0, one stripped array + one mirorred array), if a drive fail then the files can be rebuilt from the cache of other drives (not sure on RAID 1 but I know RAID 10 has a feature that kinda works like that). Nothing to do with home users unless you have a server at home that other people need to access 24/7!

[@dimitrz2000]

@@jas_bataille I meant in context of cloud storage ?

[@NoEgg4u]

With a fast NVMe drive, RAID is not as important as it used to be, for home use. With big businesses, they use RAID for nearly everything. When they need hundreds of terabytes, or petabytes, to serve customer's needs, they are not going to find those capacities with SSDs. And if such SSDs existed, they would be several times more expensive than high capacity spinning disks. Also, when a business is serving customers, and downtime must be avoided at all costs, the business will use RAID 5 (or perhaps RAID 1). When you have a data center with thousands of hard drives, you will have one failing eveyr week or so. But with RAID 5 or RAID 1, you will have no down time. And if you need the performance of an NVMe drive, and a capacity that exceeds today's NVMe drives (let's say 8 TB), then you can make a RAID of four 2 TB NVMe drives. Yes, some 8 TB NVMe drives are available. But their speed sucks when you exceed their cache size. With 4 SLC or MLC based NVMe drives in a RAID 0, you will always have full speed.

[@Zellonous]

Use software raid. I never hear anything good about hardware raid

[@1exey]

You can use software RAID1 so there is no point of failure.

[@askleonotenboom]

It's still not backup. The point of this video.

[@1exey]

@@askleonotenboom That’s right, it can protect against drive failure, but not against external physical damage or accidental data erasure.

[@JohnUSA7]

I never recommend to do any backups to RAID disks.......NEVER..... it is too risky. Backup only to a standard single disk drive, either internal or USB external drives. You lessen your risk for future failures and increase your chances for a successful restorations when needed in the future. I also highly recommend to backup your newly created backup to another drive. This way you have redundancy and 2 backups instead of just one risky one. Yes ....... I do not trust PC hardware......NEVER HAD ..... they all are prone to failure and I never want to be sad and sorry. Be smart .... follow my golden advice.

[@askleonotenboom]

Which is basically exactly what the video says. Did you watch it?

[@JohnUSA7]

@@askleonotenboom Yes Leo, you are great, thanks for all your wonderful help and advice. Always love reading your weekly newsletters.