How to backup to raid1 and confirmation

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud EX2
1

I am new to RAID storage.
On Windows 10, I have set up ex2 ultra as a shared drive and I am in the process of copying files to it. That seems to be working well.
I have following questions:

  1. How do I back these files to RAID1?
  2. How can I confirm that the files are backed up?
    Thanks.
2

First tell us how did you setup the RAID while initial setup of ex2.

If you bought just the bay -2 drive without drive’s . you need to setup the volume based on the raid type you needed.

if you bought the 2 drive per-configured then it will be in RAID 1. .Which means the created volume will be taken care of RAID 1 copy function

Example If you bought 4tb version 2tb Volume_1 will be created , Which will copy the data to 2nd drive.

If you had bought 8tb version 4tb of Volume_1 will be created which will copy the data to 2nd when data is being to copied.

3

I bought it with two drives and the default set up is raid0 and raid1. Currently, I am copying on raid0. I have a batch job set up in Windows to do incremental copy.

Right but my question is
a. do I have to set up the backup from the dashboard to initiate copy to raid1?
b. How do I know that the copy worked?

Thanks.

4

I dont know if you can setup RAID 0 and Raid 1.

See unless its JBOD. You cannot create Raid 0 with 1 drive. You need 2 drive’s for anything other than JBOD.

5

I already bought with two drives. And they are set up as raid0 and raid1.

6

Are you kidding. RAID 0 OR 1 cant be done with 1 drive.

Both needs 2 drives minimum

If you bought with 2 drives it was pre-configured as Raid 1. Which means you will have only half of the storage space,

If you changed the raid it will be formatting the drives and setting it up as raid 0 which is spanning of data accross 2 drives which gives full storage of both the drives but if any one failes all data lost.

So better RAID 1 or JBOD. Raid 0 only required if you have SSD and wanted highest speed with no need for data security and having dual lan port.

7

hmmm thanks, then I should probably return it. I was hoping to use the two drives as separate backups.
And when I saw these configured as raid0 and raid1, I figured it would automatically backup on second drive as raid1.

Thanks for your help.

8

You still dont understand.

You dont need to return

It doesnt make sense. RAID 0 is spanning of data between 2 drives.

Raid 1 is mirror data of Disk1 to disk 2.

You dont need Raid 0 as currently JBOD gives maximum throughput of 110- 116MBps

So safely move the data from drive or volume back to previous storage and copy the data back once RAID 1 or JBOD setup.

Then once the RAID is change it will be ready for moving the data back to own storage

9

Thanks so much for patience.
When I first setup, I remember seeing raid0 and raid1.But when I look at Dashboard > Storage >RAID, I only see raid1. Just as you indicated.
Just to reiterate, I have two drives of 4 TB each.
I did use a batch file to copy about 300 GB of data to the drive that I mounted on Windows 10 as a shared drive. So when I go to Dashboard > Home it shows correctly I have 3.58 TB free.
Now how do I copy to the second drive? On Dashboard > Storage >RAID, it shows I have 3.93 TB free, so nothing has been copied on that.
So the question that I have is

  • how do I copy the data to raid1 drive - second drive with 3.93 TB free?
  • once copied, how can I confirm that it did copy? Besides looking at available disk space on raid 1.

Thanks much.

10

Thanks again for your help. I did a little more reading and understand it better.
But am still uncomfortable with the idea of don’t worry be happy.
Are there any tools that can be used to verify raid1 mirror?

11

Hmm. Let’s try to get the basics of RAID down first, shall we? Please understand that:

RAID 1 = two hard drives of 4TB each, which would be COMBINED together into a SINGLE volume of 4TB ONLY. This is called mirroring, because your data that is stored on Drive 1 is also copied and stored IDENTICALLY on Drive 2. This is the default for your EX2, which you have purchased with two hard drives prepopulated in the unit. RAID 1 is considered safer for your data, because if supposing Drive 1 dies tomorrow, you still have Drive 2 to recover your data from.

RAID 0 = two hard drives of 4TB each, which would be COMBINED together into a SINGLE volume, but with 8TB of drive space. This is called striping, because your data is split across both drives, with Drive 1 containing half your data and Drive 2 containing half the other data. People use this mode only when they require SPEED in data transfer, since you now have two hard drives sharing the load of reading and writing your data. BUT… the biggest difference here is… you will put your data at RISK! Because, if Drive 1 dies tomorrow, you would be UNABLE to read anything from Drive 2! This mode should be used only… and only if… you have another set of BACKUPS elsewhere. Otherwise, do NOT switch to this mode.

SPAN = a useless way of storing data, because it is almost but not entirely similar to RAID 0, and a drive failure could possibly lead to partial recovery of your files, with the other half on the failed drive lost forever. Don’t bother switching to this mode, again, unless you have another set of backups.

JBOD = two hard drives of 4TB each, which would be managed SEPARATELY as two entirely different volumes. You’ll get the maximum 4TB of drive space for each drive (excluding whatever folders and apps that are created on Drive 1), altogether giving you a total of 8TB - exactly what you paid for. But again, should Drive 1 fail tomorrow, you will only lose everything on Drive 1, unless you keep backups elsewhere. Your data on Drive 2 will still be safe. In JBOD, you lose the RAID 1 redundancy, and you also potentially lose the RAID 0 speed (the maximum speed you can transfer data using your LAN cables would still max out around 100MBps anyway.) JBOD is basically just putting in two hard drives like you would into a normal desktop computer, without doing anything special. It’s like having a C: drive and a D: drive on your NAS. If you really need to maximise your TOTAL usable storage, or as you said: “I was hoping to use the two drives as separate backups”, then pick JBOD, not RAID 0.

Now, when you’ve first purchased the EX2, the blue box will show you the TOTAL space the drives could hold, but the USABLE space that you get for data storage is entirely up to you. If you choose RAID 0 for the entire setup, your total drive space is automatically HALVED, because you’re copying the same data to two hard drives for redundancy. And if you choose to set a partial RAID setup, like say, creating a 1TB volume in RAID 1, you have now used up a total of 2TB - and the leftoever 6TB can only be used in SPAN mode. This gives you a total of 7TB in usable hard drive space. So you see, you have some flexibility in determining how much disk space you really need, along with how much risk you’re willing to throw at your data, lol. if you’re unsure, stick to the default RAID 1 and its combined 4TB drive space, and forget about the 8TB original figure.

Now, back to your question. Your EX2 is currently setup in RAID 1, therefore, your USABLE space is now half of what you just purchased. The Dashboard will therefore show you 4TB (or 3.93TB if we wanna be accurate) as the usable space, and 3.58TB left after your first batch of data has been copied, as you’ve correctly noted. Since you are using RAID 1, your EX2 automatically copies two sets of the same 300GB of data to each of your drives, so you don’t have to worry about copying them to the second drive, or updating any changed or deleted files by hand. The two drives will both use the same amount of disk space automatically, so if you copy another batch of data and Drive 1 goes to 3TB, the same thing will happen in Drive 2 - and your Dashboard will now show a COMBINED 3TB leftoever space. Again, RAID 1 does all this automatically, so there is no need to to copy, modify or delete your data separately in Drive 2.

As for verifying whether the data is copied perfectly, you could always pull out Drive 2 (but only AFTER you’ve fully shutdown the EX2) and place it into a desktop computer with Linux installed (the filesystem is in EXT4, which Windows cannot read) - but I will not recommend that you do this. As long as you’re using the EX2 out of the box without reformatting or changing RAID modes, and copying your data correctly with the recommended apps, and there are no red lights or error messages to be seen, please continue using it and allow your EX2 to work its magic. Good luck!

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12

Thanks for teh very clear explanation.
So now I have one more question - if I choose JBOD instead of RAID1, how would I backup data on drive 2? Would I be able to see the drive just as I see drive 1?
Thanks much.

13

Point to note: if you’re going to switch from RAID 1 to JBOD, please note that you’ll now lose redundancy, and you’ll have to take the risk of losing everything on a drive should it fail or gets corrupted. This means that if you copy a file, for example movie.avi to Drive 1, it will no longer appear as a similar copy on Drive 2; you’ll have to manually copy it over to Drive 2 if you wish to keep spares. If you’re willing to do away with automatic redundancy, then go ahead and switch to JBOD to maximize your usable drive space.

As for your question, once you’ve switched to JBOD, you’ll have to go to the Shares tab and create a new share. There is a new option to select whether the new shared folder will be stored under Volume_1 or Volume_2, which corresponds to Drive1 and Drive2 respectively. Select Volume_2 and give it a proper name, and it’ll show up in the Dashboard and your computer as a new folder. Anything you store to this new share will now be stored exclusively on Drive2.

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14

Even in JBOD one can setup internal backup as incremental or sync if its folder one wanted to protect loosing.

As far JBOD if one of disk fails other disc data will be intact. And failing means not just like that. If its red and proper power is given to the device it will stay intact say 3-5 years . As RED drives are better to run 24/7

15

Thanks much, I did set them up as JBOD, so I could mount them separately and run a separate backup.

16

Thanks, I set this up as JBOD. THat’s what I was looking for.

17

Does all of this information apply to the MyCloud Mirror as well?

Thank you!