Need new internal hard drives.

[hamerhead]

Since my 1TB Seagate storage drive crapped out, I need replacements. I'm going with 2 drives this time (having one back up the other), figuring that both won't die at the same time. They'll just be storage drives, 250 - 500GB each.

I'd like to find something more reliable as opposed to being the cheapest. Know of anything?

[Harkonnen]

What happens if the raid controller goes bad. if the data is important, have many copies. at least one more than you think you need.

Well if the RAID controller goes bad you can just unplug the disks from the controller and plug one of them individually to your PC. As long as you are using RAID1 (mirroring) you don't need any particular recovery protocol. However, I was curious as to why RAID1 wasn't good enough as a backup and I had a look online. This is what the internet had to say

RAID 1 isn't a substitute for backup because there are a lot of risks that it can't protect against.

If you accidentally delete a file, it will instantly be removed from both mirrored copies.

If your disk is corrupted by a software bug or virus, the corruption will be done to both mirrored copies simultaneously.

If you're hit by a bad enough power surge, it'll probably fry both disks at the same time.

If someone breaks into your house, they'll steal the box that holds both disks.

If your house gets flooded or burned, both disks will be ruined.

I can definitely see how RAID1 is not good enough for everyone. Still covers my needs, but then again I just backup movies and things like that using RAID. All my really important files are copied on at least 3 different servers, in different physical locations.

[sixesandsevens]

What happens if the raid controller goes bad. if the data is important, have many copies. at least one more than you think you need.

Well if the RAID controller goes bad you can just unplug the disks from the controller and plug one of them individually to your PC. As long as you are using RAID1 (mirroring) you don't need any particular recovery protocol. However, I was curious as to why RAID1 wasn't good enough as a backup and I had a look online. This is what the internet had to say

RAID 1 isn't a substitute for backup because there are a lot of risks that it can't protect against.

If you accidentally delete a file, it will instantly be removed from both mirrored copies.

If your disk is corrupted by a software bug or virus, the corruption will be done to both mirrored copies simultaneously.

If you're hit by a bad enough power surge, it'll probably fry both disks at the same time.

If someone breaks into your house, they'll steal the box that holds both disks.

If your house gets flooded or burned, both disks will be ruined.

I can definitely see how RAID1 is not good enough for everyone. Still covers my needs, but then again I just backup movies and things like that using RAID. All my really important files are copied on at least 3 different servers, in different physical locations.

Yeah...

• RAID (higher than 0) protects from disk failure (like a head crash).
• Snapshot backups (like TimeMachine on OS X) protect against human failures (like deleting all your family photos).
• Offsite snapshots backups protect against location failures (stolen computer, house destroyed)

You can use combinations too - like snapshots on a Drobo give you hardware redundancy and the ability to go back in time. Offsite snapshot backup places are going to use something like RAID to protect your data against hardware failures.