Why do you need RAID?

[iMaster 0]

So I am looking forward buying a diskless NAS and installing the disks I have into it (750GB, 1,5TB, 160GB and 1TB), but so far all the 4-disk NAS have RAID. I've read about RAID, and I don't like it. Do I really need it? If so, then explain to me in 2 words what do I need it for, please.

[Mike 214]

I'll explain it the need for it in one word.

Redundancy

Personally, I have raid, and there is absolutely no problem with it.

[iMaster 0]

Doesn't that mean that you need exactly the same disks for it? And that instead of 8TB you get 2?

[Mike 214]

Not exactly, it all depends on the RAID configuration you want to go with. Certain configurations require identically sized disks. But RAID 0 for example you can use any sized disk (RAID 0 just combines the drives into 1 big drive - usually runs pretty fast too - obviously though, RAID 0 has no redundancy).

As a best practice though, if you are using anything other than RAID 0 then you'll want to look at using identical disks. Hard drives are stupidly cheap these days anyway.

[iMaster 0]

And if I use high quality disks? Like Western Digital, for example, do those have a big chance of failing?

[Mike 214]

Personally, I have never had any problems with any western digital disks that I have owned.

However, my old NAS has 4x samsung spinpoint drives in it and those have been going strong for over 3 years now.

My main PC has 2x western digital raptor drives (fast as f**k), both of my laptops have WD drives, and the home server I built some months ago also has WD drives. If that tells you something about my confidence in them.

[iMaster 0]

So it's safe to use RAID 0 then?

[Mike 214]

You can use RAID 0 with odd sized disks (i think). Just keep in mind, RAID 0 is not redundant, so your data is not replicated. RAID 0 essentially joins multiple disks together - e.g. you take 2 500gb disks, put them in RAID 0, and you end up with what is presented as one 1gb disk. Make sense?

[~Leaf~ 111]

Raid? whats it do?

[Mike 214]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

[Dragon King 15]

Raid? whats it do?

Well RAID is when police or burglars break into your place and look for what they came for. It p**ses people off.

[~Leaf~ 111]

if thats the case then i wouldnt want raid

[iMaster 0]

On the other hand, I would need separate disks, thank you.

[archer9234 20]

I don't really care for raid. I use multiple HDD for the virtual ram paging system.

[iMaster 0]

Will buy D-LINK DNS-343 then.

[EarthwormJim 1]

see when i read this topic the first thing i thought of was this

[iMaster 0]

Yeah, I thought about that. Thought nobody's gonna bring that up though.

[EarthwormJim 1]

but its such a useful household tool! no but seriously i hate flyspray. killing the bugs in the first place is completely unnecessary

[♠Grim♂ Reaper 1666◙ 17]

i just cover emm in deodrant, they either fly away after getting sprayed if not you just get a match.

[daangelo29 5]

I hated flyspray. Whenever my mom uses it and I experience an asthma attack, I inhale the f*cking thing. It tastes like sh*t, and the taste stays in my throat for a few days. I'm glad she now rarely uses it.

[EarthwormJim 1]

mwahahaha...