4tb HDD RAID1.. Should i?

[frldyz]

Almost done buying all the components for my 1st build.
I have an Samsung 850 pro (512gb) SSD. I will run my operating system ( Win. 7) and programs from here.
The HDD are for storing files. We take a ton of photos and HD videos of our kids. In 1 year I went from 0-500gb on files. So now I am going big. I would love to run RAID 1 as a back-up. I will have an external HD. But I would feel more comfortable with some more security as a backup if something were to happen.
If I run a RAID1 on 2 4tb HDD, this is kind of a safety net if something were to happen to 1 of the drives, correct?
Is there any negative to running 2 4tb HDD in RAID1?
Can Wndows 7 functional with 2 4tb HDD in RAID1? I thought I read somewhere Windows 7 limits you to 2.7tb?
Thanks everyone.

 

[MustISO]

RAID1 is a method of RAID which has fault tolerance but should never be considered a backup. No form of RAID is a backup.

While RAID1 can offer you protection in the case of a single drive failure, in the case of something like a virus or data corruption the data on both drives could be damaged.

If you're going to do RAID1 and then backup the data to an external drive on a regular basis that would be the proper way to back up you data.

I would also suggest an offsite backup as well. Having all of your data locally can lead to data loss in the case of a fire or theft.

You can use the 4TB drives in Windows 7, you can read more about it here:
http://www.hgst.com/support/high-capacity-hard-drives

 

[Ketchup]

Just to second what MustISO pointed out, you will want a source external to your computer to be your "backup." Using a device in the same computer is not a good idea for a long-term backup, especially for data that is so important. One example: lightning wipes out the computer: POOF! all gone.

One idea - an external drive, or buy an enclosure for a drive. Keep it disconnected in a safe location when you are not actively using it to back up your data.

 

[DragonBorn]

It's generally a good idea to put 2 HDDs in RAID 1 for extra data protection in case 1 fails.

As of negatives... The biggest is cost. You need x2 the amount of money for the same storage. Aside from this there should be a very small performance hit on write operations in practice because the data need to be written on both drives at the same time. As you might expected one of the drives will take a few ms more to write the data because this is an imperfect world.

On the other hand the read operations will be close to x2 faster.

 

[Paperdoc]

Your major concern appears to be reliable backup for your valuable photos - even to the point of having two backups. That is very thorough. But you should NOT do it by RAID1. As others have said, RAID1 provides no protection against many types of failures. It is best used only to provide the ability to keep on running right away even after one of its component HDD units fails. I use it in our retail stores' Point-of-Sale system for that purpose.

For reliable backup you should be putting the files on a completely separate device (like an external drive), then disconnecting that and moving it to another safe location. If you were to do this with TWO separate external devices you'd have twice as much safety. Alternatively, if you start out with two devices and fill one first, then leave it untouched and use the other, your system could last a long time.

A good backup system involves such a device and storage practice, some good backup utility software for the job, and your dedication to using it all correctly. Very often the backup software does thing in two stages. First one does a complete backup of all the required data, and that may be your entire main HDD. Thereafter one makes only incremental backups - that is, only those files which are new or changed since the last backup. If you have to restore, you go through a sequence of restoring the full backup first, then updating from the incrementals. Eventually you will decide that all those backups are too many, and re-start with a new complete backup followed by more incrementals. As you do this, you stick to the plan of connecting the external drive to the computer, making your new backup to it, then disconnecting and moving it to a safe (preferably off-site) storage place.

In your case, OP, you could do it this way: use the SSD and ONE of the 4 TB units in your computer. Then instead of buying one external drive, buy two to use as separate backup units. You could buy complete external drives, or you could buy two 4 TB HDD's and two external enclosures and assemble the units yourself. The advantage of an external drive is that it is complete already and probably comes with some kind of backup utility. However, it may come with other "bloatware", and many such units use proprietary coding of the data so that you cannot remove the HDD unit from inside to recover data from it if a problem arises. The advantage of the DIY option is you probably save a bit of money on the hardware, which you can devote to buying the backup utility you really want, and the data stored there is in a standard format that any computer can read, whether the HDD is in the enclosure or removed and installed in a computer.

With such a system you could have two backup units. Or you could end up with a lot of old photos stored on one of the external units while the more recent work is on the computer's internal HDD. Then only one external drive is your backup device.

 

[inachu]

Everyone buys antivirus software these days and those companies offer free storage space as long as you keep your antivirus software updated with them.

Might want to experiment to see what they offer online.