When a hard drive fails, it can wreak havoc on your work day. Let me share with you how, in 2010, I built a reliable, cost-effective storage solution that grew over the years as I grew—saving me time and money.
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
RAID sounds scary, but it’s just a way of configuring several hard drives together to act like one super hard drive. There are several different “levels” of RAID—each offering its own unique benefits. The good news: products such as Western Digital My Book, Synology and, of course, Drobo, handles this complicated setup for us.
Since I’m a Drobo user, I can only speak on how I set my Drobo up. I chose single disk redundancy—meaning one drive can fail and I don’t lose my data. I could have chosen dual disk redundancy, giving me extra protection in case two hard drives failed at the exact same time. This options comes at a cost—requiring more disk space and a little slower performance.
Started small, then grew into my Drobo
I had a dedicated 1.5TB hard drive just for my photo library, mirrored to another 1.5TB drive as my backup. My operating system, along with my programs and miscellaneous files, were on a separate 1.5TB hard drive. Unfortunately, this hard drive wasn’t backed up and I paid the price when it failed. To keep my photo library within the 1.5TB range, I would either delete or move irrelevant images to an external hard drive. This was NOT the ideal solution. To this day, I’m still looking for images I archived on different external drives. Finally, all this changed when I received my first 4-bay Drobo FS in 2010.
Making RAID a part of my system
Drobo took care of configuring my RAID system. I installed two new 2TB drives and Drobo made them appear as one hard drive. Even though I installed two 2TB drives, the unit only showed 2TB, not 4TB available. RAID made the second hard drive redundant—if one failed, the other would take over. Since I had two bays free, I repurposed my old 1.5TB drives and added them to my Drobo. I still kept my operating system and program files on a separate internal hard drive.
Compressed backup drive to save space
My new Drobo showed I had 4.53TB available. The problem: my largest hard drive was only 2TB. I decided to take an inexpensive path and compress my backup drive. The pros—I didn’t need to purchase another Drobo plus, if a hard drived failed in my Drobo, I could easily replace it. The downside—I needed to use software to view my backup files.
I grew into a second Drobo
As my photography business grew, my hard drives were getting full. I replaced the old 1.5TB drives with 2TB drives. This solved my storage problem, but not my backup problem. I invested in a second Drobo 4-bay FS unit and repurposed my old drives and added drives to match my main Drobo. Now I didn’t have to compress my backup drives. I have a one-to-one mirrored copy of my files. If my main Drobo unit failed, I could rely on an identical copy of my files.
Hard drives will fail
I’m finding hard drives usually last as long as the warranty. I’ve had some drives for as long as 5 years and others for only 2 years. Once the hard drive fails, I replace it with a larger drive. This keeps my Drobo growing with my needs. Currently I upgraded my Drobos units a few years back and have all 3TB drives with the except of the new 4TB drive I just installed—inspiring me to write this article.
How is my storage solution working?
In the middle of a project, my Drobo unit alerted me I had a hard drive fail. I kept working until I took a break at 8 p.m. to head to Best Buy. I purchased a new drive, came home, replaced the failed drive with the new drive, then continued working on my project. No downtime, no data lost. My storage solution is right on track.
Suggestions for your storage solution
If you’re a photographer with less than 2TB of images, purchase two 3TB external drives. Toshiba Canvio 3TB Portable Hard Drives run about $99 each. Refer to “Building a Bulletproof Backup System” on how to set them up.
If you’re a photographer with more than 2TB but less than 6TB, it’s time you to invest in a Drobo or a RAID enclosure. I would suggest a Drobo 5N. The N stands for network. Use the network Drobo as your main hard drive and a 6TB as your backup. Drobo 5N is a little slower than a Drobo 5D, but you will be able to access it from anywhere in the world. Don’t worry about security, Drobo has that covered. When you grow into a second Drobo, choose the 5D version. You will be able to repurpose the 6TB hard drive.
If you are a full-time working photographer and your income depends on delivering your images on time to your clients, budget in 2 Drobos or 2 RAID unitis. If you choose Drobo, get a Drobo 5D as your working drive and Drobo 5N as your backup drive.
Serious question, why not onboard raid? I have a RAID5 in ALL of my non laptop PCs, and haven’t build a non raid PC in years. Heck, one of my laptops is running a disk mirror RAID
Yes, I have a NAS as my onsite backup, and also have a cloud backup. I’ve never really seen what is so special about Drobo except that they happen to have easy array management, and hide a lot of the details (a good thing for a lot of ‘non techy’ guys)
You’re right on track…RAID. Onboard or external. External is easier for Photographers that are not tech savvy. I use Drobo, but like I mentioned there are other’s out there. It’s a preference like Mac vs Windows Chevy vs Ford Trucks.
A bit late to this thread, but the main benefit of Drobo is that it was the first consumer-grade solution out there with what it calls “BeyondRAID”, which is marketing speak for “throw any drive you have in there and we’ll make sure everything is redundant”. When Drobo came out its competitors all needed matching (often to the tiniest specification: same brand and speed and size of drives; more friendly RAID systems allowed for different brands and speeds but needed the same size). Last I checked NAS RAIDs from Synology at least offer “Hybrid RAID” which is essentially identical in… Read more »
What do you do for offsite backup of your RAID setup?
Crash Plan or Backblaze. https://photofocus.com/2014/11/18/building-a-bulletproof-backup-system/
I have a Buffalo Linksys 441D 12TB RAID 5 NAS for backup and 2 mirrored Western Digital Blue 6TB drives for working image storage. This is a good system for me and big enough for now, but more is more and I’m still clicking the shutter. . .
No, No and No. NAS systems are limited in their use, and apply only to specific situations. If you’re working at a single workstation, an external USB3 drive is far more efficient, cheaper and faster than a NAS. NAS systems can’t utilize the faster speed that SSD drives give you, and external drives are far cheaper and less complicated. For photographers working with less than 5tb of data, an external USB3 drive is your answer. Get a second one, and a copy of ChronoSync (or similar application) to mirror the data. Grab a 3rd one and mirror the data a… Read more »
Joe 100% totally disagree but I’m glad you gave a different point of view. Thank you!
Yes, yes and yes. The number of times an NAS system have saved my bacon trump any pedantic approach you want to take.
Thanks for a well-written article! It sounds like Joe had some unusually bad experiences, and is also conflating “Networked Attached Storage” and “Drive Redundancy.” Of course a single drive is cheaper and faster than a redundant system. Network-attached or not is irrelevant to this. (A cheap MyBook World is a NAS….) What RAID provides is constant uptime. Sure, if you back up religiously every night and then your drive dies, you can run out to Best Buy hair on fire buy another drive connect your backup drive and restore and lose only that morning’s work….and the rest of that day… Read more »
In a home situation where there is a central computer but “sometimes” you want to access that data elsewhere, a direct-attached-storage (DAS) box can fill both roles. Just turn on file sharing on the computer the DAS is attached to (and obviously make sure you have all the latest security patches on all computers on your network, etc). From a security perspective I am extremely suspicious of a network-attached device open to the wider internet; if I were to install a NAS and open it to “the world” I’d need to do a thorough review of the security response record… Read more »
Very interesting post! I’ve gad my share of harddrive failures, use an external raid system for everything now. Really is a lifesaver!
Thanks for the thoughts here Vanelli!
I know I NEED a back up system for my travel media company but I am constantly on the road… and I mean constantly. On and off planes, in and out of hotels.. I dont have a desktop or a place where I call home. 100% location independent.
I have only my Laptop and External Hard Drives with going on 3TB of footage. Is there a travel-friendly RAID system that is light where I can back up my content? Or should I stick to External Hard Drives and Carbon Cloner Copier?
Drobo Mini. http://www.drobo.com/docs/start-drobo-mini/
What do you do for offsite backup of your RAID setup?
Crash Plan or Backblaze. https://photofocus.com/2014/11/18/building-a-bulletproof-backup-system/
No, No and No. NAS systems are limited in their use, and apply only to specific situations. If you’re working at a single workstation, an external USB3 drive is far more efficient, cheaper and faster than a NAS. NAS systems can’t utilize the faster speed that SSD drives give you, and external drives are far cheaper and less complicated. For photographers working with less than 5tb of data, an external USB3 drive is your answer. Get a second one, and a copy of ChronoSync (or similar application) to mirror the data. Grab a 3rd one and mirror the data a… Read more »
Joe 100% totally disagree but I’m glad you gave a different point of view. Thank you!
Yes, yes and yes. The number of times an NAS system have saved my bacon trump any pedantic approach you want to take.
Thanks for a well-written article! It sounds like Joe had some unusually bad experiences, and is also conflating “Networked Attached Storage” and “Drive Redundancy.” Of course a single drive is cheaper and faster than a redundant system. Network-attached or not is irrelevant to this. (A cheap MyBook World is a NAS….) What RAID provides is constant uptime. Sure, if you back up religiously every night and then your drive dies, you can run out to Best Buy hair on fire buy another drive connect your backup drive and restore and lose only that morning’s work….and the rest of that day… Read more »
In a home situation where there is a central computer but “sometimes” you want to access that data elsewhere, a direct-attached-storage (DAS) box can fill both roles. Just turn on file sharing on the computer the DAS is attached to (and obviously make sure you have all the latest security patches on all computers on your network, etc). From a security perspective I am extremely suspicious of a network-attached device open to the wider internet; if I were to install a NAS and open it to “the world” I’d need to do a thorough review of the security response record… Read more »
Very interesting post! I’ve gad my share of harddrive failures, use an external raid system for everything now. Really is a lifesaver!
Serious question, why not onboard raid? I have a RAID5 in ALL of my non laptop PCs, and haven’t build a non raid PC in years. Heck, one of my laptops is running a disk mirror RAID
Yes, I have a NAS as my onsite backup, and also have a cloud backup. I’ve never really seen what is so special about Drobo except that they happen to have easy array management, and hide a lot of the details (a good thing for a lot of ‘non techy’ guys)
You’re right on track…RAID. Onboard or external. External is easier for Photographers that are not tech savvy. I use Drobo, but like I mentioned there are other’s out there. It’s a preference like Mac vs Windows Chevy vs Ford Trucks.
A bit late to this thread, but the main benefit of Drobo is that it was the first consumer-grade solution out there with what it calls “BeyondRAID”, which is marketing speak for “throw any drive you have in there and we’ll make sure everything is redundant”. When Drobo came out its competitors all needed matching (often to the tiniest specification: same brand and speed and size of drives; more friendly RAID systems allowed for different brands and speeds but needed the same size). Last I checked NAS RAIDs from Synology at least offer “Hybrid RAID” which is essentially identical in… Read more »
I have a Buffalo Linksys 441D 12TB RAID 5 NAS for backup and 2 mirrored Western Digital Blue 6TB drives for working image storage. This is a good system for me and big enough for now, but more is more and I’m still clicking the shutter. . .
Thanks for the thoughts here Vanelli!
I know I NEED a back up system for my travel media company but I am constantly on the road… and I mean constantly. On and off planes, in and out of hotels.. I dont have a desktop or a place where I call home. 100% location independent.
I have only my Laptop and External Hard Drives with going on 3TB of footage. Is there a travel-friendly RAID system that is light where I can back up my content? Or should I stick to External Hard Drives and Carbon Cloner Copier?
Drobo Mini. http://www.drobo.com/docs/start-drobo-mini/