Difference between RAID 1 and using SuperDuper?

[CaptSaltyJack]

What exactly is the difference between using a cloner like SuperDuper, and using RAID 1? Obviously the RAID 1 is instant mirroring..and if one drive fails, I still have the exact data on the second drive. I don't know which is the better route to go.

 

[Aptmunich]

A couple of C notes?

 

[CaptSaltyJack]

A couple of C notes?

How do you figure? Either way, I'll have to buy a 2nd hard drive to clone to or use in a RAID config. And SuperDuper is $27, and RAID is built into OS X.

 

[Aptmunich]

Oh, I see...

I thought you were going for 2 external drives in a RAID configuration - now I getcha! (Missed the "Mac Pro" mention).

One advantage I see it the fact that the mirroring isn't instantaneous when using Superduper!:

Say you overwrite an important file or need to retrieve an earlier version of something: a RAID config would instantly overwrite the file on both drives (as I understand it at least), with Superduper backups, you'd at least have a slight timespan where you could retrieve it.

However seeing as Leopard is just arround the corner, you might want to go with a RAID now and then just use your 2nd drive as your time machine backup later.

 

[MaDDoG]

RAID-1
RAID Level 1 provides redundancy by writing all data to two or more drives. The performance of a level 1 array tends to be faster on reads and slower on writes compared to a single drive, but if either drive fails, no data is lost. This is a good entry-level redundant system, since only two drives are required; however, since one drive is used to store a duplicate of the data, the cost per megabyte is high. This level is commonly referred to as mirroring.

So I guess Raid is on the fly real time back up.
Super duper will do a mirror image when you want it to do so. You could use super duper via USB2 to an external hard drive. Raid drives are usually in the same machine and connected together as SATA etc

 

[CaptSaltyJack]

Sounds good, I think I'll just go for RAID-1 for now. Can't wait for Leopard, too bad I have to wait till the fall!

 

[CaptSaltyJack]

Actually on second thought, I might go with SuperDuper. Because if I DO happen to accidentally wipe a file out, or mess up something on my system, I can just restore, whereas RAID-1 would've committed that change immediately.

 

[lornegustafson]

Running RAID-1 on MacPro with FAIL condition

I've been mirroring 500gb internal drives for a month or so now and see that one drive indicates a FAIL condition. I'm not sure what to do about that.

I guess I should copy the contents of the RAID array onto another 500gb drive and disassemble the RAID configuration so I can check out each drive individually to repair or replace. I don't know if I can just swap out a drive without going through the extra steps or not. Once the drives are both OK I should be able to reconfigure RAID-1. If I lose data on the existing RAID-1 drives, I can recover it from the third drive backup. BTW I'll have to buy an external 500gb drive to make this backup copy. I currently have four drives in my MacPro; one 250 and three 500gb drives with limited space available.