# G-Raid Storage



## Alan Maughan (Mar 14, 2012)

Guys,

I would very much welcome your thoughts on this.

I am looking to set up a new storage and back up system. I have been recommended to use this G-Raid

This product ships in Raid 0 which is not what I need. I have been told by a friend and also the guy in my local Mac store that it comes with software which allows me to configure it for Raid 1 aka mirrored which is what I need. In raid 1 config there will then be 2TB backing up the other 2TB in the case of the 4TB drive Im considering.

When I spoke to the guys at Hitachi they said they don't support this config even though its possible with the software they supply, the seems keen I just bought the more expensive alternative they sell.

I have looked at the My Book Studio II option which can be configured either way but because of the 5400 drives Im concerned it may be too slow if I store my lightroom catalogue on there along with my images. I want to store the LR catologue so I can have my entire photo library on the portable drive and it will switch easily between my iMac and MBP and still retain the adjustments I make.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.


----------



## Alan Maughan (Mar 14, 2012)

Anyone?


----------



## LouieSherwin (Mar 14, 2012)

Hi Alan,

A couple of things to keep in mind. First of all RAID and backup provide two distinctly different services. Of the two backup is the most important. Backup is the regular procedure of archiving your "important" data to some system external to your regular computer. It allows for recovery of lost data over time. 

RAID is hardware and/or software system that allows you to create large logical disk that spans multiple physical hard drives. Some flavors of RAID have the ability automatically recover from the failure of one or two of the physical drives that make up the RAID partition. The cost of this protection is that a percentage of the total available space is dedicated for the protection. In the case of mirror it is 50%. In the case of other flavors you have to start with 3 drives and a minimum of one is used for protection. 

But be clear this is not a backup. If you accidentally delete a file from the RAID it is gone from all the drives. The mirror you mention is just that a mirror and any changes are immediately reflected on the second drive. 

If you don't have a backup system in place then I highly recommend that you use Apple TimeMachine. It is dead easy to setup and to use. All you need is an external disk that is at least 1.5 to 2 times of the data that you need to backup. Using the G-Raid device you referenced wouldn't be a bad idea. 

So to move your images and catalog to an external drive so that you can share between computers and to back that data up you will really need two external drives. Neither needs to be RAID unless you want to pay for the protection from a disk failure. But without a regular backup you are walking on thin ice.

I hope that this was not too much information.

-louie


----------



## clee01l (Mar 14, 2012)

Expanding upon what Louie has said: Backing up critical data and sharing a catalog and master image on an EHD are two different problems requiring two different solutions. 

RAID 0 writes data segment 1 on drive 0, data segment 2 on drive 1, datasegment 3 on drive 0 , 4 on 1 5 on 1 etc.  This enables very fast reads and writes. It offers no data protection.  RAID 1 writes data segment 1 on drive  0 & 1, writes data segment 2 on drive  0 & 1 etc. providing a duplicate (mirror) copy of your data.  If one drive fails, all of your data is on the other drive.  You can replace the failed drive and it will restore itself from te other drive. However, if the drive controller goes out and the RAID controller is proprietary, neither drive is (easily) readable unless you replace the failed controller with a like replacement. 

If you want to keep your catalog and master images on an external drive, there are cheaper solutions besides a G-RAID. (2TB=$299USD) The G-Drive (2TB = $229) gives you the same storage capacity as the G-RAID  (2TB at RAID 1). I have most of my images on a 2TB USB drive enclosure that contains 2 -1TB Drives configured as JBOD (Just a bunch of disks). If the Disks were purchased new (they weren't) the cost would be ~$200USD including the $30 enclosure,  For my Time machine device, I purchased an iOmega Mac Companion at Fry's (3TB for $329),  TimeMachine backs up my Internal 1TB and my External 1TB USB  painlessly. 

If you have any obsolete computers with good HD still in them, you can create a USB EHD with 1 or 2 drives inside of about $30 Firewire enclosures are 2-3 times that price.


----------



## Alan Maughan (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks for your input so far guys. 

I appreciate that in Raid 1 mistakes deleting files will be mirrored to both drives, that doesnt really bother me too much, I could have an additional drive at home which I would back up the Raid arrangement every week or month to limit that problem.

I want to be portable providing it isnt overly slow. My job takes me away from my iMac a fair bit so I want to be able to access my entire LR catalogue from either the imac or the MBP with the least amount of hassle. Back up of course is vital, I get the impression that the G-Raid solution will do this while maintaining speed, if a controller goes will they not be readily available from G-Tech and the info still safe on the drives?

Im not adverse to a JBOD set-up but I dont really have a clue how or where to start and having something quite portable is important.

Please feel free to post some links or pictures to alternative solutions, there must surely be plenty of traveling photographers here, if so what do they us?


----------



## Alan Maughan (Mar 15, 2012)

OK guys, thanks for taking the time to help me, this information is  starting to make sense to me. Maybe if I explain a bit about me and my  needs you can then help more with recommendations.

I dont consider myself a pro although I have built things up to the  point now where I take a lot of pictures of my clients and I now offer  them for sale. I travel both nationally and internationally to do this  and at times there will also be video files captured. 

I use Lightroom (now v4) to manage the images etc. At home I have an  iMac and while traveling a MBP. I need to store my LR catalogue on an  external drive so that my entire library is portable and can be accessed  either with the iMac or MBP so that changes made to files on one  machine are visible when using the other. My current LR catalogue is  about 600gb and it will most probably grow by about 500gb a year I would  anticipate.

I can see the need for separate drives now - I guess the G-Raid drive I  mentioned configured to Raid 1 would give me some security from a single  disc failure while traveling but little else.

I would very much appreciate any suggestions as to how to achieve what I  need within the limits of my budget which could be say £500 maximum at  this stage. A system that I could expand over time would be ideal.


----------



## clee01l (Mar 15, 2012)

Try this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Bar...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331822563&sr=1-6
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SATA-HARD-D...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331822469&sr=1-16
Total price for 2TB = £114.

For  Time Machine get a 3TB Iomega Mac Companion for £306.31
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iomega-3519...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331822758&sr=1-1

That totals £420 and you have a portable EHD and a permanent TimeCapsule backup to collect versions of everything on your local HD and your portable EHD


----------

