Recommendations for affordable RAID 1 for home? …

[admin]

I have a 256GB SSD in my Mac Mini. I would like to get a RAID 1 going externally to store my iTunes and iPhoto data. It would be duped on two disks, and also free up the internal SSD. Then I could occasionally make an additional copy of the data to another disk and store offsite as well I guess.

Anyway, I’m trying to find a RAID 1 system for not much more than $200. What would you recommend? Right now I’m using Carbonite and my total backup is only about 38GB. It’s growing, but I think a total storage capacity of 1TB would keep me in business for a while.

Any recommendations? Doesn’t have to be USB 3 or Firewire, but I guess that would be nice.

Thanks very much in advance,
Chris

[admin]

Use an old pc/mac and run FreeNAS.

[admin]

Thanks, phatch. I just pulled the trigger on a WD Mybook RAID.

[admin]

I know you already got one, but for others who may be looking for the same you should look at the “Mediasonic HFR2-SU3S2 ProRaid 4 Bay External Hard Drive Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA”. You can find it on Amazon. It’s a great HD enclosure and is cheap. You’ll need to supply your own HD’s but I find that it provides some more flexibility over WD hard drives/etc as it has more drive bays.

If you have the $$, the Drobo 5D is also very very good. I have that as well as my primary backup and it’s blazingly fast on a mac using thunderbolt.

[admin]

Look forward to a review. I am looking at getting a NAS so interested to hear your thoughts.

[admin]

I think the drobo mini is around $300, but I’ve seen promo prices a bit lower than that. It’s on my list of toys I need.

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[admin]

Thanks guys. I’l let you know how it goes. I really only needed the 1TB total (2 separate 1TB mirrored drives) but that model was discontinued. So I bought one used on Amazon, fulfilled by Amazon, supposedly like-new. Price was great. I guess I’ll do a full format of the disks when I get it, tell it to work as RAID 1, and move my data to it.

[admin]

Look forward to your review

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[admin]

That was quick turn around. If anyone else comes along I recommend Synology enclosures. They can be a bit troublesome with Time Machine backups, but search on their support forums and they have instructions for fixing the issues.

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[admin]

+1 for synology. Didn’t mention it but I also have a ds1512+.

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[admin]

I purpose built a NAS with repurposed disks from a NetApp and used FreeNAS. While FreeNAS worked fine, it just didn’t function as seamlessly with the Mac as I would have liked. I’ve since repurposed that box and continue to use my trusty G-Technology G-RAID external drive. I actually saw a sweet deal on a compact 4-bay Drobo that utilized 2.5″ drives. if anyone wants the details, PM as this info cannot be posted per forum rules.

[admin]

Another +1 for Synology. I’ve been using them for almost 5 years, and have sold a few to customers. The company supports them well, keeps updating and improving them, and as Chimay mentioned, there is a very active user-forum.

They have a nice range of offerings from sub-$200 single-drive home units all the way up to corporate rack-mounted systems.

[admin]

I returned the WD RAID to Amazon, looks like they’re having some trouble with Mavericks. Might try Synology.

[admin]

I’m using a Lacie LaCie 2big Quadra 4TB in a mirror configuration at home. The chief difference is mine as esata, which I’m using.

This is my second Lacie product. The first I did have a disk failure, which was repaired under warranty. So far no trouble with the current system.

[admin]

Nas4free runs good, as does freeNas and openmediavault.

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