Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Douglas
I've lost a drive before, but if I knew how to setup a RAID-5 array I probably would do it.
Ignorance is bliss but deadly to data.
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Two choices (maybe) - hardware RAID and software RAID
Hardware RAID is the best for Enterprise type stuff where you can spend the big bucks needed to have backup controllers, etc. Most home user hardware RAID - like that built into many motherboards or add-on SATA cards - is tied to that piece of hardware. Which means when you upgrade computers, or that controller card dies (or that motherboard dies) you loose the entire array.
Software RAID - done in ... software. For us Linux users and I think BSD users. Nice thing is that you can move the drives to various and sundry machines - they don't even need the same CPU architechture - and simply tell the system "hey, use the RAID device that is defined by the signatures on these however-many drives". Which means when the hardware dies as long as one disk (RAID-1) or two disks (RAID-5) survive, you'll get your data back.
If you aren't already running Linux or have a mixed environment to backup (and even if you are already running Linux on your desktop) you can build or buy a NAS type device. Personally I'd recommend building one from a generic whitebox desktop with a RAID-5 array and a hot spare drive, and install something like owncloud on it so you can backup phones, tablets, laptops and desktops to it.