Why oh why RAID 0 and JBOD NAS boxes???

[wahnula]

Hello,

I have been reading with dismay about an alarming trend in marketing NAS or other external storage boxes...the use of RAID 0 and JBOD, the two most dangerous forms of storage in terms of resiliency. I see these ads more and more, touting the storage method as a "feature" instead of a liability. An ad for Vantec's NexStarMX touts: "Supports JBOD Configuration; Turn two hard drives into One" that "allows you to archive precious family photos, music, videos and games with three easy clicks" and Maxtor's OneTouch III that ships in RAID 0 config by default. By default??? Come on now.

Sure, you have the "option" in both cases to reconfigure them into RAID 1, but then you lose half the space, not very sexy. As far as Joe and Judy User are concerned, "if the manufacturer sets it up this way, or recommends it, it must be the way to go" and "bigger is better" without being warned of the pitfalls of both JBOD and RAID 0.

While JBOD is not as dangerous as RAID 0, it's still a risky scenario when that video of baby's first steps is spanned across two disks willy-nilly and one of those disks goes bye-bye.

I don't know what the solution is except education. As people's data grows, they will need a place to store it. Safely. It is up to us to educate our customers, friends and relatives about these 2-drive boxes, and tell them their best bet is to run them in RAID 1, or better yet to buy a 3-or-4-drive RAID 5 eSATA unit, as what average user would think they need to backup a backup drive? </rant>

Tony

 

[Nelviticus]

Not sure what to say other than that I agree with you. RAID 0 does give you improved speed but that improvement's going to be wiped out by the network speed unless you're connecting via eSATA (in which case it's not a NAS but a DAS).

I'm not sure Joe or Judy User would put up with a 3-drive RAID 5 box screaming away like ten hair-dryers though.

Nelviticus

 

[wahnula]

I'm not sure Joe or Judy User would put up with a 3-drive RAID 5 box screaming away like ten hair-dryers though

We're not talking Cheetahs here...just regular old drives, I have 5 of them within 10' of my sensitive ears and they're barely audible...except during defrag or virus scan...but all my rigs are virtually silent, if a component is too loud out it goes.

I visualize a remote box, tucked away in a ventilated closet:

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/rtx.php,

(of course in RAID 5)

http://www.norcotek.com/

I live in a hurricane evacuation zone, I like the models with handles. It's fun to dream.

Tony