Build a Mirrored RAID Array

Looking for a more secure hardware solution for securing your drives data against corruption? Build a Mirrored RAID Array. It’s a tad slower but perfect for servers and for users who need that extra set of redundant data stored on their drives.

Backing up your data is like taking out the trash or reading classic literature: Everyone wants to have done it, but nobody wants to do it. Rather than waiting for the inevitable hard disk crash, why not set up a mirrored RAID array and let your PC handle the backups for you? RAID stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks, a collection of two or more hard drives that your PC (and Windows) treats as a single volume. You can optimize an array for either performance or safety. (We’ll focus on safety, using RAID 1 to mirror data on multiple drives. See “Raid Levels,” below, for details on the other flavors.) With a striped array, you save your data once, and it’s instantly and invisibly stored on two different physical disks. If a hard disk dies, you can just swap it out for a new one and keep working while your RAID controller copies all of your data to the new drive.

To build a RAID 1 array, all you need is two identical drives (if they’re the same brand, model, and capacity, so much the better) and a RAID controller. Most modern PCs have RAID built into the motherboard; if yours doesn’t, you can add a PCI or PCI Express controller for about $50. With 500GB drives going for about $100 these days, there’s little reason not to add some redundancy to your data storage, not to mention some peace of mind to your already addled brain.

Read the full artiucle via PCMag.com