Network Hard Drive Questions

[JRW]

If you are really serious about it, the Infrant NAS is a great solution. I have 2TB (4x500MB) sitting on my network for photos, video and general backups. The box is relatively future-proof as you can always replace drives. I can also have a drive fail and rebuild it from the others. RAID should be a must.

[AndrewCCM]

What kind of RAID level is that running? (4x500GB) in a RAID 5 config would not equal 2 TB. I believe the Infrant solution actually uses a different method than traditional RAID though..

Regardless... It just depends... For me (I have about 780GB of RAW files - mostly customer files), I find it significantly cheaper to just backup to additional drives on my network and keep offline/offsite backups to a different medium.

I am an Information Security Manager by day and have managed some pretty large datacenters in the past. There are definitely merits to using RAID technologies....But...it depends on your budget and how you utilize your storage.

For me at my home, I have copies readily available on separate systems which is as reliable as a RAID...more so in some regards (RAIDS can corrupt...been there done that). It so much less expensive with this approach which matters to some.

So to sum up...IMHO - RAID is not a must... A good backup and online strategy is.

I wouldn't dissuade anyone from going the RAID route...but insure you have a solid backup plan as well.

EDIT: John... I looked at your website.. Loving your new house. Congrats.