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Hi all,
So, I currently has a little WD My Book, which recently died on me, and so I'm looking to bigger and better during the replacement process.
I want build something where I have at LEAST 4TB of usable storage, and a backup of that usable storage. I know a lot of people use RAID 1 for this, but it's my understanding that RAID1 is intended for data uptime, not for backup, and that even though you have 2 copies of the data, it doesn't necessarily mean you can recover it.
Can anyone shed any light on that, and give me any tips on building a Kodi friendly NAS taking account of that.
Much love.
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RAID1 has always been mirror (exact duplicate of another drive). I probably wouldn't call RAID backup, it's more data recovery as it doesn't completely copy everything (except RAID1 and 10).
A 2-Bay NAS will be suffice for your needs, do you have more information on how you plan to use it? What's it plugged into? Is more than one person accessing that info? How many $$$ do have to spend?
There are also some NAS that can run something like OpenELEC which might be another solution.
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noggin
Posting Freak
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Beware RAID does not equal backup. If you delete a file on many RAID solutions, that file will be deleted on the mirror too. If you have both drives in the same physical enclosure, then if they are stolen, destroyed in fire etc. then both copies are gone. RAID can give you a degree of data redundancy, protecting you against some drive failures, but that isn't quite the same as a proper backup solution.
I run unRAID on a home-build server, which gives me some data redundancy (as there is a parity drive which allows for a single drive failure in the array) and the drives are readable outside the array (as they use a standard Linux file system). However I don't consider this a backup. My original CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays (which are stored in a different location) are my backups. I'd hate to have to rip them all again, but I could if I had to.
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Thanks for the info guys, it confirms what I was thinking, and gets me a little further along too.
My NAS will be used for a few things, storing movies and TV shows for Kodi, which are, ultimately, recoverable, even if it is a hassle.
What I am more concerned about is photos. Which I guess I could store on the NAS using RAID 1, and therefore have redundancy, and use a cloud based backup service, meaning they're super secure?
Does that seem comprehensive enough?
As for other Qs asked:
It'll be plugged into a couple of RPi2s around the flat, plus people accessing it from laptops is possible, but likely no more than devices at once. It'll be used for playing media, or accessing photos, but that's all really.
I do want to be able to expand it, so I was thinking about a 4 bay, and also relevant is that I live in Vietnam, where it is hot as balls, in fact, it is overheating that killed my previous NAS, I'm anticipating buying a big case and sticking a buttload of fans into it will suffice.
I can spend $1000 if I need to, but less is preferable.
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2015-07-08, 10:55
(This post was last modified: 2015-07-08, 11:06 by iammattsanders.)
I actually looked at that exact model not that long ago, before decided to seek advice! Good to know I was headed in the right direction. I also looked at a Synology DS414. Any specific reasons you'd go for the QNAP over that?
So, a further question.
I could run 3 drives (2 X RAID 1, 1 X Backup) as suggested.
What if I wasn't worried about redundancy and raid 1 4TB drive, and had 1 as backup, and 2 slots for expansion at a later date? I'd lose the redundancy thing, but I'd also save myself some cash short term, and the performance of RAID 1 versus non-raid is similar, right?
The 431 does look pretty great though, I could do the cloud backup thing, plus lots of other features that seem pretty appealing. It's just a shame that here in Vietnam it'll cost me more like $389!
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Ah, well Synology is CRAZY expensive here. The 414 is even more expensive than the QNAP.
If I do my cloud backup from the RAID drive, it'll be always up to date, and the local backup (maybe weekly) will only be aid speed of recovery if the worst happens.
That seems like a worthwhile tradeoff, especially as all of the computers but one will be accessing the NAS via wifi anyway, network saturation will come well before the NAS.
Awesome. I'll be buying myself a little treat this weekend.
Thanks for all the help. There needs to be some sort of system for buying someone a beer across continents.
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Oh, a final thing! You mentioned replacing the fan in the QNAP, is that easy and/or necessary? Are most 120mm fans likely to fit?
