Raid 1 or just 2 Drives

[Kennyc]

I am kinda of unsure what to do I have 2 80 gig wd Hard drives I want to back up my info so I dont lose information. I had raid 0 before and 1 drive died it sucked to say the least. I am kind of afraid of raid 1 because it writes both drives at the same time so both drives could be corrupt at the same time??
or should I just use norton ghost and do an image on the other drive
help me decide
Oh and my other question is there a way to do raid 1 with out formating again can I do 1 format in raid 1 and mirror ??

 

[DaveSimmons]

> so both drives could be corrupt at the same time??

yes, RAID1 only protects against drive failure not against a worm, virus, or human error.

imaging:
pro
- backups are safe from human error and some virii / worms since they're more likely to infect EXE files and to wipe your C: drive instead of D:
- multiple backups are possible if you have the space

con - backup is only as fresh as you make it

 

[Kennyc]

I am going to try the imaging route (not raid1) Do you have to do a full back up everytime or can it add to the current save?

 

[beatle]

That depends on the software. I use ViceVersa, which I configured to synchronize certain folders that have valuable data. I have it set to sync up every week. It only copies files that have changed.

 

[Bassyhead]

i would go with the imaging route as well

 

[heartsurgeon]

if this a "mission critical" situation, get another system like a dell 400sc, set it up as a network storage device, and mirror your drive to it, or do frequent backups to the networked drive.

 

[Kennyc]

what software do you use beatle? Thats kinda of what I want

 

[Kennyc]

I am using norton ghost cloning can I just put that drive as the master to work?