External HDD/Backup/Time Machine Questions

[keithos27]

Hi gang. Another question for you all...

I have a MacBook Pro as well as .Mac and a 500 GB G Drive external HDD. Normally I've been dragging my iTunes and iPhoto folders over to the G Drive, along with any other documents. And I use Backup (from .Mac) to backup my iWeb websites. That's been fine.

Now I want to get a little more safe and have another backup option/source. So I've been thinking about Time Machine. It seems pretty cool (from the marketing I've read on Apple's website) and I figure two backups are better than 1 (especially when I have a ton of music and photos to backup).

So what are my best options? I budgeted myself at $500 and just bought a G Tech G Raid2 (which is 1 TB Raid 0). I haven't opened it yet. Should I use that with Time Machine, or should I use my 500 GB G Drive with Time Machine and do the "manual backups" (i.e. dragging files over) on the 1 TB? Do I leave the G Raid2 as Raid 0, or can I change it Raid 1? Does Raid mess with Time Machine at all?

Or do I return the G Raid2 and get a 1 TB or 500 GB Time Capsule in two weeks time? I would have to imagine (although it's purely speculation at this point) that the G Raid2 must be better hardware (hard drive wise) than Time Capsule, right?

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

-Keith
MBP 15" 2.33 C2D with 10.5.2

 

[MacDann]

Anything that's RAID 0 isn't going to be any better than a single hard drive as far as redundancy. RAID 0 only does striping, which gives you speed but no redundancy - that is, if one of the drives fails, you still lose everything.

If you're concerned about data integrity and you want RAID, you need to go to a RAID 1 or even better, RAID 5. However, to do so you'll need an array with more than two disks.

For a really good visualization of RAID, click here.

If you're looking for redundancy, find a good RAID 1 or 5 array. If you just want backup storage, save your $$ and buy a Time Capsule. They are supposed to have enterprise-grade drives, which is worth something compared to consumer grade ones....

MacDann

 

[iMacBook]

Keep using .Mac for your normal stuff.

How big is your internal? I'd say to partition the 500GB and use half for Time Machine and the other half for a mirror of the internal.

Then use the 1TB for extra storage.

Or, another route would be to use the 1TB for backing up. Partition it and again half and half for Time Machine and a mirror. Then use the 500GB for storage or something.

There are many routes.

 

[keithos27]

What if I already have an Airport Extreme and have installed it's supporting software? Once the Time Capsule comes out will I need to install other software, or will my MBP just instantly recognize it?


Anyone have any more info on the "server grade" hard drives that time capsule sup. has?