Backup strategy: RAID 5 array or multiple Drives and a dock for them

[Ellis Vener]

I am looking at expanding my backup strategy. One alternative is a RAID 5 array ( primarily I am looking at the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 array as endorsed by Lloyd Chambers at macperformanceguide.com) ora friend has recommended instead getting  a FW800 dock and using swappable multiple bare drives.

I already use  DROBO as my primary out of computer storage solution.

The Promise Thunderbolt RAID solution  looks promising but  not ready for that yet - maybe next year.

I prefer looking before leaping so any well informed thoughts and opinions on this subject are welcome.

[Christopher]

It is different for all. I will let you know how I do it.

I have one internal RAID 10, which has ALL files on it.

One Drobo Pro which again has all files. The drobo is only plugged in for backups.

One RAID 5 (cheap software RAID) with 5 drives. This one is stored in a different place when not in use.

All important images are saved on 2 single drives which I keep somewhere else.

I prefer to have all my files on a RAID/RAID type platform, compared to have many different drives. However that depends. I have around 6TB of files, which are growing fast. If I had only 2-3TB I would do it only on external drives.

[Farmer]

Yes, there are many strategies, but the thing to consider and remember (which you seem to have done) is that RAID, in and of itself, is not a backup strategy - just a redundancy strategy.

My personal setup:

Current Images on local drive
All Images on RAID 1 NAS
All Images on RAID 5 NAS
Current Images on an external (eSATA) single drive
All Images on single drives, stored offsite

This gives me redundancy and multiple levels of backup (including offsite and including being not reliant on RAID controllers/devices/software).

To avoid the risk of the offsite drives staying "fresh" they are rotated back and forth - a little time consuming, but not horribly so.

This plan suits me - it won't suit everyone.  It has some disadvantages (they all do) such as the time involved and making sure everything is synchronised, but it works and gives me comfort in the level of protection.

I don't see a need for super fast storage for backups - they're backups, after all.