Need help with backup system

[TheLucid]

Hi.

I'm in video production and I have two machines. My main pc for work and a little hp proliant microserver.

I use the hp to run a program called easeus to-do backup, which backs up all data onto an external 4tb drive. I also use this pc to handle client downloads/uploads via dropbox.

Unfortunately that backup space has run out. I impulsively bought 3x wd red 6tb drives to run a raid 5 based backup system but my hp cannot do raid5. The only option is to install unraid or similar apps, but then the machine is headless and I still need the Windows functionality.

Any advice? How can I efficiently run a big backup while also having access to Windows? Should I invest in another proliant?

Please remember, I'm in film, not IT. I've made mistakes so that's why I'm coming to you guys for help.

Thanks.

 

[Cerb]

Do you have RAID 10 as an option? I'm pretty sure you do, and that would be the one to use. It would require another drive, though.

 

[Essence_of_War]

but my hp cannot do raid5.

What OS is your HP running, and how are you trying to do raid5? Any version of windows server (2003->2012) should be able to do software raid5 as long as you're not trying to make the OS on the raid5.

Assuming you're running windows server (which the HP microservers come pre-installed with) and I'm looking at the correct HP Proliant microserver, they should have 4 drive bays, so you could leave 1 for the OS, and have the other 3 be a software raid5 array.

 

[TheLucid]

It's running Windows 7, bought used. I was tying raid 5 in the bios which failed, but then via unraid on a flash drive which worked, but removed my OS functionality as it's headless.

My n36l does have 4 drive bays. So if I buy Windows server, I'll be able to do a software raid 5?

I'll have to also check if I can do raid 10, I'm not sure.

 

[Essence_of_War]

It's running Windows 7, bought used. I was tying raid 5 in the bios which failed, but then via unraid on a flash drive which worked, but removed my OS functionality as it's headless.

My n36l does have 4 drive bays. So if I buy Windows server, I'll be able to do a software raid 5?

I'll have to also check if I can do raid 10, I'm not sure.

Ah, that explains it then. I don't think win7 supports software raid5 at all. If you need windows, windows 8/8.1 and windows server support either software raid5, or parity storage spaces, which are effectively the same thing.