Hi guys…I have two My Cloud EX4s. I originaly got each of them to run as NAS with 4 3TB drives.
I’ve since changed to 2 20TB external drives and each has about 15TB used, However, they aren’t backed up (gulp).
I’d like to repurpose each of them to a backup drive by loading them with four 5-6 TB disks and configure them to RAID 0, each appearing as a single 20-24 TB drive. I would then run backup software. I don’t want to backup to the cloud since to backup that much data (I’m a photographer) would take forever.
First, I’d like to hear PROs and CONs, mostly CONs, and Second, is there something online that will walk me through the process?
So you plan to use one of them as your primary storage and the other to backup your primary?
If so, you can use the native backup features in the EX4s. Your secondary would be the “remote” server and backup your primary.
If you don’t need the secondary on 24x7, you can set a schedule for it to turn on, perform the backup, then shut off. That way you can perform the backup over night (although the first one may take longer).
The manual takes you through the setup.
Personally, I get 2 extra drives (total 6) so you can set both to Raid5 (3 drive each). This allows 2 hard drive failures (1 in each EX4) before you risk losing data.
Bear in mind a few things. First, your EX4s are no longer supported. They run on the older OS3 (also not supported). There is a specific EX4 forum under the My Cloud OS3 forum. You should ask any further questions in there.
I still use my EX4 (2Tx4, Raid5) as my primary. I also have a different vendor NAS that’s my backup server. I run scheduled backups on my secondary to backup my EX4. My secondary is only 2 drives run as a mirror. So I can lose a drive in each one and still preserve my data.
Hey @jposada01
Using RAID 0 as a backup plan might be risky and I would not recommend this because RADI 0 doesn’t have data redundancy or fault tolerance, so if one disk fails, all data is lost.
Instead, consider RAID 5 or RAID 6. These configurations offer data redundancy and can survive one to two drive failures. They provide much better protection for your valuable photographic work.
Before making any changes, back up your existing data carefully. Research your specific My Cloud EX4 model’s capabilities and consult professional photography forums or Western Digital support.
