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Single drive vs dual drive external hdd.

#1

Bones

Bones

So i need a new external "oh shit" backup drive to add to my network. I am mostly backing up photos and occasionally videos. I like wd and i notice they have a single and dual drive version. Im wondering what advantages i might get by paying another 200 bucks and getting the double drive version.


#2

PatrThom

PatrThom

Depends on the configuration.
4TB and contains one drive means there is a single 4TB drive in there.
4TB and contains two drives could go two ways - either it contains 2x2TB or 2x4TB. The first gets you extra speed (if RAID 0) or lower price (if JBOD), the second gets you extra reliability (if RAID 1).
https://getprostorage.com/blog/understanding-raid-storage/

Then the rest is just questions about your risk tolerance. There's no real functional difference between getting a single unit with two 4TB drives in a RAID 1 in it vs. getting two separate single-drive 4TB units and then manually copying your stuff twice, once to each. Both of those methods would provide essentially identical protection against single drive failure.

--Patrick


#3

Bones

Bones

PatrThom said:
Depends on the configuration.
4TB and contains one drive means there is a single 4TB drive in there.
4TB and contains two drives could go two ways - either it contains 2x2TB or 2x4TB. The first gets you extra speed (if RAID 0) or lower price (if JBOD), the second gets you extra reliability (if RAID 1).
https://getprostorage.com/blog/understanding-raid-storage/

Then the rest is just questions about your risk tolerance. There's no real functional difference between getting a single unit with two 4TB drives in a RAID 1 in it vs. getting two separate single-drive 4TB units and then manually copying your stuff twice, once to each. Both of those methods would provide essentially identical protection against single drive failure.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
they claim the dual drive is set-up in raid 0 out of the box, but it sounds like I might be ok with the single drive version as this meant as my third place backed up.


#4

PatrThom

PatrThom

Yeah, if you're prioritizing capacity, what "XTB RAID 0 out of the box" means is "X/2 TB when in RAID 1/redundancy/safety mode."

Single-drive should be sufficient, so long as you're already hosting duplicates on other devices.

--Patrick


#5

Bones

Bones

PatrThom said:
Yeah, if you're prioritizing capacity, what "XTB RAID 0 out of the box" means is "X/2 TB when in RAID 1/redundancy/safety mode."

Single-drive should be sufficient, so long as you're already hosting duplicates on other devices.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
the biggest deal is its set up with software that allows for it all to be automated, which is nice, I dont know if I care about raid zero as much as raid 1 in which everything is mirrored. but fuck I can probably back my photos up to a flash drive and store it in a fire box in case of "OOH WE FUCKED UP!" issues.


#6

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bones said:
I can probably back my photos up to a flash drive and store it in a fire box in case of "OOH WE FUCKED UP!" issues.
Click to expand...
True enough.
Just remember that data redundancy and data retention are two different things. I mean, making multiple copies of stuff is good practice, but that doesn't do you any good if you stick your copies in a closet and then wonder why they don't work after leaving them untouched and unchecked for 6 years.

--Patrick


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