- Feb 14, 2004
- 49,105
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Edit: Solution found thanks to GrammatonJP! $160 for the case with a PCI eSATA card. See further down for more details...
I'm in the market for a good backup system for my computer. Here are my requirements:
* RAID 1 (mirroring) for data security
* Large (250gb to 400gb; 2 drives)
* On/off switch
* External case
* SATA connection
Basically I want a big, fat external RAID 1 solution that I can turn on and off so that the data isn't exposed to the computer/Internet all the time. I do nightly backups and I also want to keep ISOs of my software CD/DVD discs on it, which is why I want RAID mirroring. So far I have found two pre-made solutions, but both are expensive and don't have a lot of storage for the price:
G-SATA (2x250gb = $519; 2x500gb = $1,119)
LaCie Two Big (2x250gb = $469; 2x500gb = $949)
Considering 250gb hard drives cost $90 on Newegg, $500 for two of them in RAID 1 doesn't seem like such a hot deal to me. One thought I had was to get two SATA enclosures with SATA hard drives, then use the motherboard's built-in RAID (MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum) to run RAID between them. Newegg sells a nice little dual SATA PCI adapter for $7:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813997002
It'd be a bit more of a hassle though, since I would have to turn both drives on and off everytime I want to use them. I'm not sure how much the RAID controller would like them turning on at different times either. However, it would be way cheaper per gigabyte; a 400gb RAID setup would cost about $600 versus $500 for a pre-made 250gb solution. Any other suggestions or solutions would be appreciated!
I'm in the market for a good backup system for my computer. Here are my requirements:
* RAID 1 (mirroring) for data security
* Large (250gb to 400gb; 2 drives)
* On/off switch
* External case
* SATA connection
Basically I want a big, fat external RAID 1 solution that I can turn on and off so that the data isn't exposed to the computer/Internet all the time. I do nightly backups and I also want to keep ISOs of my software CD/DVD discs on it, which is why I want RAID mirroring. So far I have found two pre-made solutions, but both are expensive and don't have a lot of storage for the price:
G-SATA (2x250gb = $519; 2x500gb = $1,119)
LaCie Two Big (2x250gb = $469; 2x500gb = $949)
Considering 250gb hard drives cost $90 on Newegg, $500 for two of them in RAID 1 doesn't seem like such a hot deal to me. One thought I had was to get two SATA enclosures with SATA hard drives, then use the motherboard's built-in RAID (MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum) to run RAID between them. Newegg sells a nice little dual SATA PCI adapter for $7:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813997002
It'd be a bit more of a hassle though, since I would have to turn both drives on and off everytime I want to use them. I'm not sure how much the RAID controller would like them turning on at different times either. However, it would be way cheaper per gigabyte; a 400gb RAID setup would cost about $600 versus $500 for a pre-made 250gb solution. Any other suggestions or solutions would be appreciated!
I'd go with internal drives but I don't want them exposed to the computer all the time; I just want them connected for the duration of the backup. A full Ghost backup takes awhile over USB and Firewire; I'm hoping a direct SATA connection will speed things up a bit. Sigh. Maybe I should just do two seperate drives and copy them over occassionally.
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