[mythtv-users] Questions about RAID

[Jelte Veldstra]

On 9/29/06, OJ <ole at legaard.net> wrote:
>
> Hi
> I have started to move my music, pictures, and movies to my MythTV
> backend server. My backend server is a AMD64 server with 1 250GB HD and
> 512 MB RAM.
>
> Now I'm starting to worry about all my data. The problem is that it is
> starting to become a huge amount of data so normal backup is not an
> realistic option for me.
>
> I'm thinking of buying 3 250GB (or maybe 500GB) HD and setting them up
> with software RAID.
>
> Questions:
> 1. Is RAID the only solution for this purpose?
> 2. Is it possible to expand this RAID array later (insert an extra HD)?
> 3. My DVD collection will use a lot of HD space. Any suggestions on how
> to reduce the file size (divX, ...)?
>
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>

RAID is not really a backup solution. It only guards you against disk
failure. For example if you accidentally delete a file, it's gone! That said
I use software RAID5 myself for the reason that I don't want to backup that
amount of data, but I wouldn't like the idea that it's lost because a drive
died on me.
Alternatives could be something like a NAS setup (e.g. FreeNAS) where you
rsync your files to. That way you have two copies so if you accidentally
delete one, the other's still there. Or an external USB harddisk could be
used as well.
Expanding software RAID drives can be done apparently with recent
2.6kernels. I haven't tried it myself, but read this feature is
introduced
recently. Googling should confirm this.
As you suggested converting your DVDs to DivX or the like is a way of
reducing disk space. An other idea is described in this thread:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/161889. Never got to
trying it myself, but it's on my list of things to do on a rainy day.
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