Smart Opinions on RAID 1 for Audio Editing / Video Editing PC vs Single Drive with Backup to Second 1

[kjv1611]

For my church, I'm in process of putting in a "new" PC - not new, but new to us. I want to talk about the 2 options of RAID, and consider whether it's worth bothering with at all vs just backing up from Drive1 to Drive2. (Yes, RAID is NOT Backup - go ahead and get that out of the way).

Relevant specs:
[ul][li]Asus Z97-A motherboard. (supports RAID)[/li]
[li]4th Gen i7[/li]
[li]2.5 SATA SSD for OS[/li]
[li]Windows 10[/li]
[li]2 WD 6TB SATA 3.5 Hard Drives for Data[/li][/ul]

On old Q6600 system, I have:
[OL][LI]2.5 SSD for OS[/LI]
[LI]One 3.5 SATA HDD for Audio Recordings[/LI]
[LI]Second 3.5 SATA HDD for other Data[/LI]
[LI]Backup of 3.5 Audio HDD to folder on 2nd 3.5 HDD[/LI][/OL]

*AGAIN - RAID IS NOT BACKUP*

Not going to spend extra on a dedicated hardware RAID card, so that's out of the picture.

What opinions to folks here have. Should I:
[OL][LI]Continue with my same process with new system: AudioDrive backed-up to folder on DataDrive[/LI]
[LI]Use Windows to setup a RAID 1 between the 2 drives (I have enough space for everything on one)[/LI]
[LI]Use the Motherboard RAID configuration to setup a RAID 1[/LI]
[LI]Some other idea I'm overlooking[/LI][/OL]

My initial plan is:
[OL][LI]Setup the new system as the Audio Recording (M-Audio 1010LT PCI Sound Card) / Editing / CD Making system initially.[/LI]
[LI]If things go well with that over a few weeks/month(s), proceed[/LI]
[LI]Add the Hardware HDMI-IN card and at least one additional HDD for video capturing up on the same cmoputer[/LI]
[LI]See how this goes after a few weeks/months[/LI]
[LI]Former computers will be parted out and/or kept as backup in case "new" main system croaks before replaced.[/LI][/OL]

One additional note: No Internet connection at church, which is both a curse and a blessing, more a blessing than a curse, really.

Thanks for any thoughts along the way. My current opinion is though I have considered a RAID setup, that I'll likely go with just using all drives separately, since I'll later add in Video, and this would keep the setup much simpler. But if someone thinks there's a good reason to RAID, I may still consider it.


"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[kjv1611]

And here's a discussion from a couple of years ago where a WD employee states that WD Blacks have been modified a little more for performance and less for RAID since the WD Reds were manufactured:

https://community.wd.com/t/desktop-raid-1-red-or-black-drives/17435/4

Before there was a NAS drive line, WD Black could possibly be used for small RAID environments and we did list basic RAID support for the Intel controllers since they would account for the drives not having TLER. However, since WD Red has been released, WD Black was optimized for performance all references to RAID use removed.

I'm not saying that WD Black won't work, as you have demonstrated, it just isn't designed for that type of environemt and failures could occur more frequently in an environment the drive wasn't designed for.

So yeah, they might work fine in RAID 1, but perhaps that has changed since I last used any RAID setup anyway. I'd rather not add risk when thinking I'm reducing risk. Recording to one WD Black has worked great anyway.

Come to think of it if I don't use the Storage pools and just backup the way I've been going, and seeing as I'm thinking about eventually combining video onto the same computer, I could do this:
1. SSD for OS
2. One WD Black 6TB for Audio
3. One WD Black 6TB for Video
4. One DVD Burner
5. Use another drive as an internal "backup" drive from the Audio drive (not bothering backing up video right now b/c we don't do much with them and super huge files)
6. If I can fit another drive, maybe I'll then have 2 "backup" drives internally, and mirror at least the "data" stuff - documents between those 2 drives

Then I might setup an external backup as well.


"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[goombawaho]

Getting way off point now, but I have about 10 of these drives out in the field with some about 5 years old and no failures yet. The Western Digital RE4 line in general has been reliable for me. Yes, they are only SATA 2, but I only use them for storage, not boot.
WD1003FBYX

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[kjv1611]

I started to get WD Gold drives which I suppose is the successor to the RE4 drives. Before, I had been thinking about RE4 when thinking about a new build for that purpose. But I went with the WD Blacks b/c I could fit more into the budget, especially getting the refurb drives.

Maybe I'll find out I made a mistake this time, but if so, maybe by the time it is realized I'll have the money personally or in "media" budget at church to fix that the right way. We shall see.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57