Arch Linux

Cippa Lippa

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2007-04-12

Posts: 159

looking for a raid drive for my box

Hello world

I am looking into buying a 1TB raid drive from lacie to get my scientific data in a safe place. I am planning to use a RAID1 setting
I was specifically looking into the d2 quadra from Lacie. Does anybody know how these work on arch. My idea was to format them as ext3 to have them accessible in Linux and windows (via opportune plugin).
What should I expect with such a unit. Can I just connect it, recognize it with gparted, format it as ext3 and will it be recognized as a drive??? Also, how hard will it be to connect it to my network? will I be able to connect it via ethernet to the router and it will be mounted?

I am sorry for such newbie questions but on one side I don't trust external hard drives enough to buy a non-raid one. On the other hand I am terrified that I will buy a raid drive and it won't work...

Thanks

Cippa

Last edited by Cippa Lippa (2009-03-21 14:39:02)

xaiviax

Member

From: Michigan

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 282

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

I am looking into buying a 1TB raid drive from lacie to get my scientific data in a safe place. I am planning to use a RAID1 setting
I was specifically looking into the d2 quadra from Lacie. Does anybody know how these work on arch. My idea was to format them as ext3 to have them accessible in Linux and windows (via opportune plugin).

Hard drives themselves are not "raid or non-raid".  The d2 quadra from Lacie should work just like any external hard drive, fine on Arch. 

What should I expect with such a unit. Can I just connect it, recognize it with gparted, format it as ext3 and will it be recognized as a drive???

Pretty much, but it depends on exactly how your computer is set up.

I don't trust external hard drives enough to buy a non-raid one. On the other hand I am terrified that I will buy a raid drive and it won't work...

Again, not sure what you are saying, or that you completely understand the specifics of what you are asking...

deicist

Member

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 36

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

Some external 'drives' are actually 2 drives in a raid configuration, I believe this is where the confusion is coming from.

Even more confusingly however, the 'd2 quadro' isn't 2 drives, it's just one bog standard external drive with no raid support.

Cippa Lippa

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2007-04-12

Posts: 159

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

I think the d2 quadra has indeed two separate hard drives which can even be taken out singularly.

also they say they have a embedded software raid / you select the raid mode on the hard drive itself...

my question was if anybody has experience with anything similar to this. I don't think I wanna bet the safety of my data on my limited skill with linux. Hence I am trying to look for raid solutions that do not require messing around with my own linux box.

any ideas???

Cippa Lippa

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2007-04-12

Posts: 159

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

bump

xaiviax

Member

From: Michigan

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 282

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

also they say they have a embedded software raid / you select the raid mode on the hard drive itself...

Embedded software raid (IF it works on linux) still has to be set up on your system (grub and operating system).  It's probably easier and better to just use linux's "built in" raid.

I don't think I wanna bet the safety of my data on my limited skill with linux. Hence I am trying to look for raid solutions that do not require messing around with my own linux box.

The redunancy part of raid is great for hard drive failure recovery.  1:  A hard drive fails and you lose no data.  2:  You replace failed hard drive and you get no down time (great for servers).  The striping part of raid can be good for performance gains, but that is not what you are looking for.  Raid is not a replacement for proper backup.

If you are concerned about your limited skill with linux and the safety of your data, imho raid is not the answer you are looking for.  Raid will do nothing to protect your data from you or your operating system.

any ideas???

2 hard drives, 1 for proper data backup (manual or automated)

Cippa Lippa

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2007-04-12

Posts: 159

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

oh well I thought of using a raid drive (2 hard drives in a RAID1) as a backup drive, not as a every day drive. I would dump there my backup every week.

I am still trying to understand if those Lacie drives (2 drives in software RAID1) would be instantly recognized when I plug them in...

Cippa

fukawi2

Ex-Administratorino

From: .vic.au

Registered: 2007-09-28

Posts: 6,237

Website

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

I can not find anything that says the d2 is a RAID device. Looking at the photos of the unit, it certainly doens't appear big enough to physically be capable of holding 2 drives.

I think something suitable for what you're looking for would be the 2big quadra (http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11140) which does have in-built RAID. Even better would be a NAS device with RAID capability. You plug it to your network (rather than eSATA / USB / firewire) and access it over Samba. Some devices also support FTP and NFS access.

Last edited by fukawi2 (2009-03-26 22:35:09)

---

Are you familiar with our Forum Rules, and How To Ask Questions The Smart Way?

BlueHackers // fscanary // resticctl

Cippa Lippa

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2007-04-12

Posts: 159

Re: looking for a raid drive for my box

yep sorry I meant the d2 quadra... thanks!