Storage Help

[IntelFanboy417]

Hello,
I currently have a home file server set up for my family to use. Currently everything stored on the server is stored in the one single drive. I need you opinion for a better storage solution. Should I use SSDs for long term storage? Should I use hard disk drives? What RAID should I use RAID 1 or RAID 0? Also what RAID card would be necessary? Thanks in advance. Also, please dont recommend online backup services, as I prefer to use my own private service.

 

[PP Mguire]

As I said in the other thread, don't use SSDs for file storage. A it's a waste of money, B you can get way more space for said money, and C you'll pretty much never use the speed so that's a waste too.

Everything really depends on the task, daily HDD load, and the system behind it. If this is a simple box setup for people to grab movies or whatever off of then I suggest just buying a 4TB drive to add to what you have no, and just add to that drive when you need more space. RAID really isn't that necessary until you can afford a bunch of drives at one time, the card, and have a need for the speed. I go to LANs all the time while only having a few drives dedicated to games, TV, movies, and apps. On the other hand my friend dropped money on a RAID card, 4 4TB drives, and did RAID 5 losing 6TB in the process while never actually utilizing that RAID setup.

 

[carnageX]

Would be more worth it to just buy 2 drives of the same (or 1 larger) capacity, and use the second (or larger) for backup purposes. RAID =/= backup solution.

Have a backup application that runs on their systems, or from the server even, at a certain time every so often if you want, that way all their personal files are backed up.

 

[IntelFanboy417]

Thank you guys for the help, I do have a automatic backup program running, so I dont have to worry about that. From your suggestions I think I'm going to go with two 2tb Western Digital hard drives. My motherboard on the server has 5 sata ports already, could I configure a RAID just by using the on board Sata connections or would I have to have a separate RAID card to run the raid setup?

 

[Lexluethar]

Use RAID 1 to mirror both backup drives, this way you can recover all data if you have a hard drive failure. RAD 5 would work as well, but it uses three drives and you will lose some space because of parity.

RAID card isn't necessary if your motherboard has a raid controller built in. Most do and will allow RAID 1/0 setups. Personally I would purchase a card and do it that way, most home RAID cards will only cost around $40 and will do all the 'lifting' when it comes to processing RAID commands (otherwise your CPU will be doing that work if you use one that comes on your motherboard).