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Mike Harrison · Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 2:28 pm Post subject: RAID arrays: yes? No?

Not the "kills bugs dead" kind; the hard drive kind.

Apart from (what I'm guessing is) the automatic creation of redundant (audio) files, Is there an advantage to using a RAID over having two separate drives and backing files up manually?

What are any pros and/or cons?

Thanks!
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georgethetech · Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 4:49 pm Post subject:

RAID 1 (Mirror): Safety of file redundundundundancy, but corrupted/infected files are also duplicated
RAID 0 (Stripe): Read/Write Performance increase (unnecessary for a vo track)

I've been there, done that. Just not worth the hassle, and every RAID enclosure I've used has failed at some point. I prefer just an online backup software, and a cloud backup as well. I Archive closed projects to another drive to clear space from my working disks.

Maybe RAID 1 or RAID 5 worth it for a NAS or Server, but that's about it.
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 5:02 pm Post subject:

Thanks, George. I was hoping you'd chime in.

I just replaced two external OWC (Other World Computing) Mercury Elite 250 GB drives with two 500 GB Studio Mini drives by Glyph Technologies (and was considering a RAID). The difference in physical size is amazing, plus they're so quiet, I can't hear it unless I pick it up and hold it next to my ear, they run much cooler AND they're bus powered (USB 3.0).
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

Some other things about arrays:

0. Think of an array as a run-flat tire - it will let you hobble along after a blowout, but you want to get the thing fixed as soon as possible: having some drives alive when one dies lets you bring your work to some conclusion instead of everything hitting a brick wall while you go get a new drive and restore from a backup (count the hours and hours... zzzzzzzzzz).

1. They are not a substitute for backups. If you have an array of drives in whatever configuration, you still need to make backups. Even if you never have a mere drive failure (which you will), relying on an array as an automatic backup means you're expecting never to have any other catastrophe: lightning strike, you scooting across the carpet and zapping the machine with your static-endowed finger, your kid fiddling with it, house fire, etc. that destroys the physical location the drives occupy. Even if none of those disasters should ever befall you, as a human you err sometimes: a human operator malfunction gets blown onto all the drives in the array. Oh, no backup? Whoops...

2. If you have an array, it's not a bad idea to avoid having any two of them from a single lot: they'd be manufactured at the same time, would be powered up for the same length of time, be accessed at the same time and... yep... quite very possibly fail at the same time - and then you're no better off than if you had just a single drive. Even if they don't fail simultaneously, you will find yourself replacing another shortly after its brother.

3. Avoid like the plague any drives whose manufacturer starts with 'S' and whose model is named after a fast cat.

4. If you *really* want to devote yourself to an array, have at least two controllers. Single controller RAID means you expect the controller will never fail but... Surprise! Also, when one controller does fail and blow crap data across its drives, your other controller lives on and does not blow crap data - leaving you some number of drives that have good data.

In any case, make backups, and then remove them from the building in which your workstation lives.
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 5:07 am Post subject:

Chris, thank you for that terrific insight.

I've always had several drives and faithfully made backups. I just have to be convinced that "the cloud" is infallible and that only I will have direct and immediate access to and control of my data.

Thanks!
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georgethetech · Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 2:46 pm Post subject:

If your house is in a fire, Tsunami, massive earthquake or burglary, there is no more direct access to your data than the cloud!
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

...if you've just been through a tsunami or massive earthquake, it's a safe bet your internet connectivity is entirely in the toilet and the cloud is inaccessible.

I'll concede on the burglary and fire angles, though.

Regardless of your connection status and speed, relying on the cloud still does not match local backup media or functional array drives when a "normal" drive failure happens in the middle of work.
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Rick Riley · Posted: Fri May 15, 2015 8:49 am Post subject:

I have four drives and run three. Using Pro Tools, I have my system C drive and working D drive. Both are 500 gig SSD’s. Even quieter and Glyphs and much, much faster. The third is an on board back up, 1 tb drive, of which I run regularly scheduled backups. Fourth drive is an SSD that sits in my closet. It’s a clone of the C drive, so if / when the C goes down, I can swap it out and keep going. If my D drive ever goes, I can restore from the back up drive, but if the system drive goes, IMO, it’s much easier to just swap out a fully functional C drive with applications ready to run
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

Rick's method is a good thing to do. It might be worth noting something about drive images, though.

This applies to Windows users - not sure what the Mac mileage would be:

When you take a drive, make an image of the whole thing on another drive and then replace the first drive with the second, one of a couple things will happen:

1. The system boots fine and life goes on.

- or -

2. Windows will boot to some point - maybe you'll get to the logo/loading screen, maybe not - and you'll then be stuck in an endless reboot cycle that only ever gets to that point.

If you get scenario #2, and you're sure your image is physically okay, your Windows install may not have the necessary drivers enabled to talk to the new drive correctly. You sometimes encounter this if you've got a moderately older system and older drive, and suddenly have to swap in a brand new drive. While not impossible to rectify, it's definitely no fun, particularly because Windows doesn't tell you directly what the problem is and you have to figure it out without much info to go on. ...this happened to me about two weeks ago with a client's computer; it was double-plus un-fun. I won't bore with the details of what to do to try and get around the problem, but I'm happy to provide them to anyone who winds up in such an unfortunate circumstance.

For extended fun, if you have effectively infinite space to play with, commit snapshots of your data (audio, documents, whatever) files to a versioning system, and you can go from any point in time back to any point in time. Some would say that's excessive. Smile

The good thing about making drive images is that the real cost is no more than the cost of the spare drive and some of your time. Unless you absolutely do not feel technical, the software necessary to do it is absolutely 100% free - a good walkthru to get acquainted with the process is at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_cloning
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