[Daveskater]

I now have two drives that are exactly the same, down to the model number, with the second one for backups, so I will need a program that will do it on its own regularly.

Can anyone recommend a good program? Cheers

[evilfantasy]

I haven't used Karen's Replicator in a while but from what I remember it should serve you well.

[Daveskater]

Cheers mate, I'll give it a go.

Anyone else have a suggestion?

[Jason]

You seen this thread?

[evilfantasy]

Yep. Karens and Cobian Backup are about the best free ones I am aware of. I saw someone recommend XXClone today. I trust their opinion but at the same time I have never heard of it.

[Daveskater]

Oh yeah

So many good threads it's hard to keep track

[evilfantasy]

I forget some of the stuff I have posted all of the time...

[Albert Lionheart]

Dave - do you want to mirror the drives? What about a RAID array?

[Daveskater]

Yeah I pretty much want a complete copy of the master drive, in case anything goes wrong.

Karen's Replicator is going to have its first run in about 20 mins so we'll see how it does for now I suppose

[Albert Lionheart]

I was asked yesterday if it is practical to have a mirror array in an external caddy - I said yes, thinking that I would have no bother finding it.....

[Daveskater]

I have the second drive as SATA_1 or whatever the proper term is if I've gotten that wrong, with the main one as 0. I do have an external drive but it's half the size of my main drive and is just going to be for chucking random things onto

If I had a mirror array, would it save a file onto both drives at the same time if, for example, I downloaded something?

[Albert Lionheart]

Any SATA array should really have drives that are as near as possible twins, especially if mirroring. If you are going to use a bit of software to make a mirror copy, it doesn't matter much as long as the second drive is not smaller than the original source drive.

[Daveskater]

Well I ordered them off of the same quickfind code on Ebuyer, and they looks pretty much the same. 2 Questions then:

1) Would a RAID array be better than the software thing?

2) How easy is it to set up

[Albert Lionheart]

Morning Dave
I would only use a hardware RAID if it was on the board anyway - the software mirroring is not really RAID but it would work just the same.
You can stripe RAID too - this means that the drives are written to at the same time to speed things up - downside is that if one drive dies you have lost the lot.

[Daveskater]

I didn't look to see if my board does RAID tbh, it wasn't one of my requirements at the time hehe.

Am I right in thinking there are three types? If memory serves there are RAID0 RAID1 and RAID0+1 or something like that. I knew about the one that writes to both drives at the same time which makes it quicker, but don't really need that, plus I don't want the risk of losing it all, which is what the second drive is meant to prevent

[Albert Lionheart]

Hi Dave
(wot I nicked from wiki on RAID - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
RAID - * RAID 0 (striped disks) distributes data across several disks in a way that gives improved speed and full capacity, but all data on all disks will be lost if any one disk fails.

* RAID 1 (mirrored disks) could be described as a backup solution, using two (possibly more) disks that each store the same data so that data is not lost as long as one disk survives. Total capacity of the array is just the capacity of a single disk. The failure of one drive, in the event of a hardware or software malfunction, does not increase the chance of a failure nor decrease the reliability of the remaining drives (second, third, etc).

* RAID 5 (striped disks with parity) combines three or more disks in a way that protects data against loss of any one disk; the storage capacity of the array is reduced by one disk.

* RAID 6 (less common) can recover from the loss of two disks.

* RAID 10 (or 1+0) uses both striping and mirroring.

[Hope Cassidy]

Can I suggest it another way...raid is something I have never felt much use for and with a second internal drive you have a much better opportunity.
Use a program like Acronis True Image that allows you to make image files that are compressed up to 1/2 the space and then either schedule it to also make file and data backups to the second drive hourly or daily depending on how often you change your important files so that if a main hard drive goes down, you simply replace it, restore the image file and then the file and data backup and you are back in 15 minutes.
That approach is useful for registry screw ups, spyware or virus infestation because raid would infect both drives with no comeback. You could also use Karen's replicator for the file and data backup or Cobian if you like it better.

[Albert Lionheart]

Hi Hope
I think that is what might suit Dave as it may be that his board does not support RAID anyway - and I would not suggest going out and getting a RAID card when you can use software to achieve the same result.

[Wayno2k8]

I have been using Karens Replicator for a few months now.I have found it to be quite good,I have set the thing to do a weekly back up but seeing my external has an on/off switch on the back I just switch it off when not in use,therefore defeating the purpose of automatic back up lol.I just do a manual back up when I have the chance,think I have done 3 back ups in all in 2 months.I just hope it saves me if anything goes wrong.

[Albert Lionheart]

I think the amount of energy you are saving is very small - and these drives are supposed to doze off if idle for more than a set time anyway. I have found with mine that that it spins up when I open explorer and we have to wait for it - this is a pain but I live with it.