What is RAID? [Noob Question]

jsg

@IIMKIIVG said:
Thank you everyone for quick replies.
I got it that with RAID1, I can use only 1 disk instead of 2.

No. Raid 1 means that all data are written out to both disks. So you use both disks but only have the storage capacity of one.

@IIMKIIVG said:
Any cheap safe storage site to backup whole windows every month?

I think the cheapest and best is @host_c , but I can't tell you about Windows because I hardly use it but which OS to back up shouldn't matter anyway.

Raid vs Backup

Raid is about not loosing data due to a drive failure. Backup is about not loosing data, no matter the cause or reason

As one potential reason happens to be that even whole data-centers may go up in flames (e.g. OVH "data center") or an earthquake may damage a whole region, it is strongly advisable to have backups stored a certain distance away; something like 200 miles or 300 km is commonly considered a reasonable minimum.

painfreepc

@Andreix said:

@DataRecovery said:

@IIMKIIVG said:

What is RAID?

RAID - redundant array of independent disks or redundant array of inexpensive disks.

So it won't help with

I recently lost all my data because ...

... RAID is not a backup.

Define a backup. If you think backup is "a copy of your data stored elsewhere", then RAID kinda is a block-level backup, in some RAID configurations. Not RAID0, but in RAID1 for example, Disk2 is a backup of Disk1 and vice-versa.

Disk one is not a backup of disc 2, they're both mirroring each other, as I stated above, if you have file Corruptions on one of the disk, you're going to have file Corruptions on the other disk, raid is not a freaking backup in any way shape or form.

Raids purpose is so you can recover from a hard drive system failure,

lirrr

can i raid your disk sir

Andreix

@painfreepc said:

@Andreix said:

@DataRecovery said:

@IIMKIIVG said:

What is RAID?

RAID - redundant array of independent disks or redundant array of inexpensive disks.

So it won't help with

I recently lost all my data because ...

... RAID is not a backup.

Define a backup. If you think backup is "a copy of your data stored elsewhere", then RAID kinda is a block-level backup, in some RAID configurations. Not RAID0, but in RAID1 for example, Disk2 is a backup of Disk1 and vice-versa.

Disk one is not a backup of disc 2, they're both mirroring each other, as I stated above, if you have file Corruptions on one of the disk, you're going to have file Corruptions on the other disk, raid is not a freaking backup in any way shape or form.

Raids purpose is so you can recover from a hard drive system failure,

You make a confusion between file level and block level.
If you have a corrupted file that is written, via the SW/HW controller to disks, sure, it will replicate corrupted.

But if an issue arise from a corrupted block/sector on Disk1, it will not occur on Disk2 too. Disk failures are independent and do not replicate via SW/HW RAID controller.

cybertech

Conclusion

either RAID 10 or nothing.

backup always necessary.

Porlam

ralf

RAID is when your disk is about to fail and you sneak into someone else's house and steal theirs to replace yours with.