Hard Drive Configuration (RAID etc)

[karlywarly]

Hi Guys,

I have purchased a HP N40L micro server that has 4 hard drive bays with an embedded RAID 0,1 controller which i would like to install free nas onto.

Now i have had a play around and a good read on how to use free nas but i am still unsure on how i should proceed with setting up hard drives.

I would like to at first add 2x 1.5TB hard drives that will use the hardware RAID controller built into the micro server as RAID 1 and then in the future add another 2x hard drives and create another RAID 1 so i have a mirrored backup in case a hard drive fails and thus not losing any data.

Would this be the best way to do this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Edit: It appears that software RAID is more favorable than that of hardware RAID, can anyone confirm this and what the pros over using hardware RAID is?

Thanks

 

[tingo]

- skip the "hardware" raid controller (in other words; use it as a standard sata controller)
- let zfs handle the mirror for you
- the best way (for not risking data loss) would be raidz1, but that requires three drives minium.

 

[karlywarly]

- skip the "hardware" raid controller (in other words; use it as a standard sata controller)
- let zfs handle the mirror for you
- the best way (for not risking data loss) would be raidz1, but that requires three drives minium.

Thanks for the help.

Created a ZFS mirror using 2x 1.5TB hard drives which seemed really easy.

Now starting to enjoy freenas now ;)

 

[tingo]

Good. Now, about that backup...

 

[karlywarly]

Good. Now, about that backup...

So we are saying that the ZFS RAID 1 mirror i set up is not good enough then?

 

[tingo]

It depends on how much you value your data. Shit happens, we all know that.

 

[karlywarly]

It depends on how much you value your data. Shit happens, we all know that.

With setting up a ZFS mirror using 2 hard drives on my nas, i would have thought that one of the hard drives would be classed as a backup as in the same as a RAID 1 mirror although software based?

If i made a backup of this then surely that would make it a backup of a backup unless i'm wrong?

 

[fracai]

So we are saying that the ZFS RAID 1 mirror i set up is not good enough then?

A mirror protects your data if one drive fails or develops a few bad blocks. A mirror does nothing if both drives fail, or if the box dies in a catastrophic way that takes the drives with it, of if the house burns down.

It all depends on how valuable the data is. Valuable enough for a mirror, but can be replaced over time if the mirror dies? Valuable enough to keep secondary on-site backups? Valuable enough for off-site backups in a strong privacy rights, non-extradition country?

 

[pirateghost]

With setting up a ZFS mirror using 2 hard drives on my nas, i would have thought that one of the hard drives would be classed as a backup as in the same as a RAID 1 mirror although software based?

If i made a backup of this then surely that would make it a backup of a backup unless i'm wrong?

RAID =/= Backup

 

[tingo]

In addition, a mirror (or any other data storage solution) doesn't protect you from logical faults (accidental deletes for example).

 

[cyberjock]

In addition, a mirror (or any other data storage solution) doesn't protect you from logical faults (accidental deletes for example).

While not an end-all for protection from deletes, using the recycle bin feature of CIFS is REALLY handy for those kinds of mistakes. I use the recycle bin with a cronjob that autodeletes old files after 10 days from the recycle bin.