Two separate NAS in RAID 0 or RAID 6?

[ifrog]

Hello:

I'm a noob to the NAS world, I've spent the last few nights reading articles and researching different models. My purposes for my NAS will be mostly multimedia streaming and a place to store my timemachine backups. I have decided on getting either the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Plus or the QNAP TS-469 Pro. I will probably get the ReadyNAS since it's cheaper and is more than enough to serve my needs.

After reading the article, "Smart SOHOs Don't Do RAID" (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-basics/30060-smart-sohos-dont-do-raid), I decided that I will be getting two separate NAS, one will be my primary NAS, the other will store backups of my primary NAS using rsync.

My question is: since I will have two separate NAS devices, it seems that RAID 0 would be the best configuration for both devices. The speed will be the fastest and I will be able to utilize the most storage space. Using RAID 5 or 6 doesn't seem as beneficial since my two separate NAS devices are redundant enough. Can any experts out there make a case for either side? Thanks in advance for your time.

Very Respectfully,
ifrog

 

[thiggins]

First, kudos for taking a safe approach to backup by using a separate device.

This is a pay-your-money-and-take-your-choice question.

I don't think you will get that much speed gain from RAID 0, but you do get the maximum space.

But depending on how you do your backups (incremental vs. sync) and how many versions you store, you may lose some data when the backup drive fails. And even if you have all the data on your primary NAS, you now face a long initial backup to the repaired backup NAS.

 

[ifrog]

Thanks for your post Thiggins and thank you all the work you put into this website. It's been very informative and useful in my research.

My secondary NAS won't be plugged into the outlet all the time, so it will be incremental backups, probably every other day. My reasoning for not keeping my secondary NAS plugged in is that I don't want my secondary NAS to get fried if an act of God (i.e., lightning) occurs near my house. I will be using an Uninterrupted Power Supply but even those things can't protect from direct/near lightning strikes.

I think I will stick with RAID 6. The speed and storage capacity are not sacrificed too much compared with RAID 0 and it will reduce the repair time for my NAS in case one drive dies. Thanks for your input. If anyone else has any thoughts to contribute, I'm all ears.

 

[thiggins]

You're welcome. You get additional points for having both NASes on UPS.

If you are worried about local damage (not to mention fire and theft) you should have an offsite backup, even if only for absolutely essential files (financial and personal records)