Ken
Mon Jan 07 13:04:35 PST 2008
On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:36:34 -0500, Dan Conrad <dconrad@hsc.vcu.edu>
wrote:
> XP-Pro OS -- am upgrading my Motherboard to one that has hardware RAID
> Asus P5LD2 -- so was thinking about setting up a RAID1 mirror disk
> situation -- to be protected in case of disk crash. From posts on this
> board gather XP will see as one disk and can partition as I want.
> Question is -- do I still need to have a regular backup system -- with a
> third disk -- and what are the advantages/disadvantages of doing what I
> am planning. Note system is used in a lab/office environment. Thanks.
RAID 1 (mirroring) is *not* a backup solution. RAID 1 uses two or more
drives, each a duplicate of the others, to provide redundancy, not
backup. It's used in situations (almost always within corporations,
not in homes) where any downtown can't be tolerated, because the way
it works is that if one drive fails the other takes over seamlessly.
Although some people thing of RAID 1 as a backup technique, that
is *not* what it is, since it's subject to simultaneous loss of the
original and the mirror to many of the most common dangers threatening
your data--severe power glitches, nearby lightning strikes, virus
attacks, theft of the computer, etc. Most companies that use RAID 1
also have a strong external backup plan in place.
You can read my general advice on backup here:
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
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