KnightRid wrote:
I hear this all the time but there is problem with this statement. If you are using your RAID setup AS a backup then it IS a backup.
No, it isnt.
Oops, I deleted a file on accident. Restore it from RAID.
Granted its wikipedia, but ill quote the first line from their 'backup' entry:
In information technology, a backup, or the process of backing up, refers to the copying and archiving of computer data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event
RAID is not an archiving method and is not used to restore the original after a data loss event. It is used to rebuild or prevent lost data using various methods after a drive failure. Backups are usually defined to be able to restore upon any failure, not just specific ones (single drive failure, etc).
RAID is not a backup, even if you 'use it as one'. You or I do not get to make up the definition of things. RAID is data loss
prevention, backups are data loss
recovery. This is a HUGE difference.
Now, if you are being especially deceiving in your statement and you are using a raid setup to backup data that primarily resides elsewhere then that qualifies as a backup as you are just using a raid array as a backup medium.
Most home users do not have critical data
??? Really? People dont run quicken? They dont store various scanned documents to have non-paper copies? I would really argue this one these days, maybe 10 years ago 'most' would not have but lately people are using computers more and more for various things. Combine that with companies pushing to go paperless for things like bills, banking/mortgage/etc statements and I would happily argue that people store 'critical' data (critical to them, maybe not to you).
edit cause i missed this comment:
Biggest point you keep missing egloeckle is that these are aimed at the HOME or SMALL business not some corporation that needs petabytes of storage
You just contradicted yourself. If a 'small business' of which I do work for maybe 100 (5 users or less) dont have a proper backup then they will get bit by it eventually. RAID does not do anything in case of fire, theft or some other disaster, and doing a proper offsite backup can cost less then $100.
What you are assuming is I am thinking you have to have some elaborate backup solution in place. I am not. 2 USB drives that get swapped out and alternately taken offsite is a perfectly valid backup solution. Having all of your data reside on a single drive solution without another copy elsewhere is just begging for problems.