pc vs mac, eac vs itunes
Kijanki, I think we're basically making the same argument: RAID (0, 1, 5) is OK, but backups are imperative. Musicnoise, how large exactly is your music collection and how fast do you anticipate it growing? If it's slightly over 1TB, then the least expensive option would be to get 2 1.5 or 2TB external hard drives, one for production use and the other for periodic backups. If it's in excess of 2TB or threatening to go there, then you should probably look at external enclosure that gang together at least two drives and run them in RAID 0 (no redundancy but maximal use of storage space). You will need two of these gangs of drives, because that's how you'll make your backups. As an example of something you might consider, Try this from OWC. Can you use two completely separate external HDD's to store your data on? Yes. Most software (including iTunes) should handle this just fine. And you can even create some trickery using symbolic links if you're on a macintosh to make those external drives appear as though they're available elsewhere on the filesystem. (Go to the command prompt and type 'ln -s source_directory target_directory' but this is an advanced exercise that I don't think you'll need to do.) But there are enough relatively inexpensive external enclosures that accommodate 2 drives and automatically provide RAID 0 that I'm not convinced there's a real benefit to having two separate external drives (and then another two for the backups) when you can simply have them in the same box. Michael |
It should be kept in mind that for any RAID mode other than 1 (I believe), if the RAID controller hardware fails, and if the same or a similar controller is no longer available, the data on the drives may be irretrievable even if it is perfectly intact. It should also be kept in mind that besides RAID 1 not protecting against os malfunction, accidental file deletion, virus infection, etc., it also doesn't protect against both drives being simultaneously corrupted by a failure of the RAID controller hardware. That is certainly unlikely, but it can and has happened, as reported in various places on the net. Regards, -- Al |
Al: You hit the nail on the head as to one of my concerns. The more common and generic an item the better the chance of being able to replace it when it fails. If I can avoid the more specialized system parts and still accomplish the same end result without giving up too much along the way, that would be my route. |
