RAID Box for Laptop - My Head is going to explode (help!)

[mkerian]

Hi all,

My head feels like it's going to explode, and after much research I decided I'm just going to have to suck it up and ask potentially stupid questions point blank.

I have an extensive collection of videos and photos, and currently I have two external 2tb western digital elements hard drives connected via USB to my laptop. I'm running out of space, and rather than buy more hard drives (I'm out of USB slots anyways) I thought I would look into a RAID box. This is also to improve the security of my data as right now my back ups are haphazard.

So, this is where everything gets very technical for a novice like me.

In my research I've realised that NAS is too expensive and too complicated for my needs. I just need local storage like a RAID box such as one from Sans Digital.

http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid-plus/tr4utbpn.html

After researching the difference between RAID setups, I've decided that RAID 5 would suit my needs.

My questions are essentially:

1) How the heck do I set something like this up? Do I buy a Raid box such as the one above and a bunch of hard drives, slot them in, and hook them up to my laptop and expect to see a single drive? Like would it show up as Drive E or something?

2) I know I need a software or hardware Raid controller, but I can't just slide a card into my laptop as it won't work. But I found this, would this work? http://www.addonics.com/products/adexsa6g-2e.php

3) Basically my head is spinning and I don't know where to start. Help?

 

[murphyc]

RAID is not a backup, so you still need a separate backup solution. RAID is used to improve availability, i.e. if you lose a drive, the data is still available and you (hopefully) don't have to do a restore from backup. RAID's can and do implode losing all data on them (exhibits A, B, C, D on these and many other forums).

If you only have a single computer, ever, direct attach storage is OK. Otherwise a NAS is more flexible and not as difficult to manage as you might think.

Also as for the drives do use, use a drive the manufacturer will stand behind for your purposes. Most consumer drives are explicitly not to be used in RAID other than 0 and 1, or to be spinning 24/7. So I'd suggest the WDC Red drives or an equivalent (I'd start another thread on that topic honestly, I think competitive drives to the WDC Red is actually a good topic).

 

[tomt4535]

The Sansdigital box you linked already has the RAID controller built into it. I've never used one, but I'm sure there is some sort of software that you use when you first plug it in to the computer to set up the RAID. After that, yes it will show as one drive to your computer. It has USB and eSATA, so you can pick whatever interface you have on your laptop and it will work. It's essentially a big external hard drive. There are other ones that require you to have your own RAID controller. For a Laptop, I would steer clear of those.

 

[ronbo613]

I am always looking for more storage and backup so I've checked out RAID enclosures as well. It seems that some of them; like the Sans Digital and Rosewell enclosures, are made by the same company in China. Those seem to have a power supply issue and since the PSU is proprietary and not easily replaced, that would be a problem. CineRaid enclosures look nice, but they don't have much of a track record, Mediasonic enclosures seem to be similar to the Sans Digital and Rosewell styles.
If you use eSATA, you need multiport capability from your motherboard eSATA or you'll need a PCI-e card, another part that may or may not be that dependable.
Compared to the Synology DS212j NAS that I have, these RAID enclosures do not seem as reliable. When they are on sale, the RAID enclosures are pretty cheap, so if you already have the hard drives, you wouldn't be risking too much, provided you've backed up your data.