Storage stategy and performance

[Krapo]

I have been worrying for a while about my lousy backup strategy. I am currently relying on a simple external drive on which I backup my files when I remember to do so... :(
This recently cost me around 300 pics (not too bad), but also all the Lightroom processing done over the last year (ouch, that hurt :cry:) when my hard drive went south without warning...

Learning the hard way, I now want to put in place something solid and take advantage of my future desktop replacement.

Let's assume I go the Mac Pro route . I'm thinking about :
- 1 system drive, around 200GB, for OS and software
- 2 x 500 GB hard drives in software RAID 0 as Photoshop scratch disk and for data storage purpose (I would put all my pictures there). The rationale behind RAID 0 is max performance for Photoshop scratch operations.
- An attached storage device for backup (not NAS because Time Machine does not recognize them) being either a Drobo or a RAID 1 enclosure, ~1.5 TB. Automatic backups to that device performed by Time Machine.

I'm still thinking about the best solution for off-site storage. Maybe online backup such as Mozy, or external drive that I leave at work. The latter scares me more because I know I won't do backups frequently enough.

Does this overall strategy make sense?

I should mention that I'm not a professional. I spend a lot of time (and effort) in post-processing, but I don't live off my images, meaning that if the whole city is wiped out by a nuclear blast, I will have other things in my mind than my images :)
Also, I'm a lazy guy. So the more automatic, the safer for my data!

[wlescall]

It takes discipline. I put a SATA card in my Mac Pro and bought a Newertech Voyager Quad interface drive. I can pop in a bare drive and backup easily and much more quickly than FW800. I backup my system (especially before upgrades) and my data. I rotate my disks and ALWAYS keep 1 off site. To remind me, I put a sign in my line of sight at the desk.

My setup:
I have a WD Raptor 300 GB as my system disk. 2-1 TB data disks, and a 1 TB time machine internally. If I was to do RAID (this is in my future plans) is to set up an external box with 4-5 HD's via SATA as a RAID 5.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I have been worrying for a while about my lousy backup strategy. I am currently relying on a simple external drive on which I backup my files when I remember to do so... :(
This recently cost me around 300 pics (not too bad), but also all the Lightroom processing done over the last year (ouch, that hurt :cry:) when my hard drive went south without warning...

Learning the hard way, I now want to put in place something solid and take advantage of my future desktop replacement.

Let's assume I go the Mac Pro route . I'm thinking about :
- 1 system drive, around 200GB, for OS and software
- 2 x 500 GB hard drives in software RAID 0 as Photoshop scratch disk and for data storage purpose (I would put all my pictures there). The rationale behind RAID 0 is max performance for Photoshop scratch operations.
- An attached storage device for backup (not NAS because Time Machine does not recognize them) being either a Drobo or a RAID 1 enclosure, ~1.5 TB. Automatic backups to that device performed by Time Machine.

I'm still thinking about the best solution for off-site storage. Maybe online backup such as Mozy, or external drive that I leave at work. The latter scares me more because I know I won't do backups frequently enough.

Does this overall strategy make sense?

I should mention that I'm not a professional. I spend a lot of time (and effort) in post-processing, but I don't live off my images, meaning that if the whole city is wiped out by a nuclear blast, I will have other things in my mind than my images :)
Also, I'm a lazy guy. So the more automatic, the safer for my data!

If it were me, . I would make that pair of 500GB drives a pair of 1TB drives (about $80.00 from new egg these days) and go RAID 1 mirroring for your data only.

For a "scratch disk" you far better off with a smaller drive, and you can get the speed from a single drive if you use a Raptor or better yet a new fast SSD.
A mere 36GB SSD would be more than enough for a scratch drive, 64GB even better,.
but I would NEVER combine my data storage with w RAID-0 scratch drive!!!!!

If you decide to use a device like a DROBO for a back yup to your internal I would highly suggest you pair it with a simple E-Sata or USB or Firewire external 1TB disk as well.. for about $120.00 or so..

Why? The DROBO and units like it use there own method of writing to the drives,.
you can not remove an HD from a broken DROBO and get the data off it by plugging it into your PC.

[Krapo]

Thank you CDS for this great feedback!

This is a config I didn't think about, but it actually makes more sense. My idea about RAID 0 was faster performance, but it's certainly even better to have a dedicated super fast scratch disk. By the way, do you know if LR uses a scratch disk too?

The rationale of having a Drobo was to have a scalable, secure backup. But if I have an internal RAID 1 system, I can probably do with a single external drive (the likelihood of both the full RAID 1 system AND the external drive going down at the same time is about the same as my house burning down).
Good! I'm set! :)

By the way, your new avatar is creepy :) I prefered the Superman thing...

Cheers

[CyberDyneSystems]

I had to wear this what with the new movie and all... :)

That sounds like a decent plan, and more affordable than the DROBO..

[René Damkot]

but I would NEVER combine my data storage with w RAID-0 scratch drive!!!!!

Quoted for truth!

[Krapo]

My only remaining question is whether this will handle large Lightroom library well enough.
My images won't be on the fast drive, so I'm afraid that a large LR database will be slow on the RAID 1 disks. What do you guys think?