Backup Raid 1 question

[Dutchrookie]

Greetings peeps

 

Might be a stupid question.

 

So i set my Linkstation duo 2 tb in Raid 1, so i have 2 off 1 tb so 1 can back up the other.

 

Now i have set up the backup, and it all worked fine. But now that i check the free space i get 440gb used.... this should be 220gb. the backup used the space on that 1 tb.

 

So my question.

 

With a raid array 1 setup, does the back up goes automatic? And how can i see the backup? Or did i do something wrong, because the backup that worked used the wrong harddrive.

 

Thanks in advance for the reply

 

 

[drmemory]

with RAID 1, whatever is written to HDD1 is immediately mirrored to HDD2. If you backed up 220GB, but you are seeing 440GB used, I would check to see if you might have backed up your data twice (the backup and a copy on the same drive)

[Dutchrookie]

thanks for the reply Drmemory

 

One final question about backup, is there a way i can actual see the backup on the mirrored hdd?

 

I see a share folder when i open the linkstation, but i am trying to find the data on the mirrored hdd. Or is it hidden and one must assume all is working as intended?

 

[drmemory]

there is a quirky way to view it. power down the unit, remove the hard drive on the left, power it back up. the unit should power up, with a blinking code indicate HDD1 is missing or gone bad. it will be using HDD 2 as the operating system. when you connect to the LS-W with your computer, you would be looking at the mirror drive, which should be identical to HDD1. Normally when you connect to the LS-W and looking at data, you are looking at HDD1. When satisfied that your data is there (don't change anything with the data while you are looking at it or it won't be an exact mirror when HDD1 gets plugged back in. ) Power down, and reinstall HDD1, then power back up. Make sure all your data is backed up somewhere  else before you do this - removing a hard drive and putting it back in, can sometimes confuse the operating system of a RAID unit.

[dndrich]

I think the original poster may not understand what RAID 1 does. RAID 1 gives a mirrored drive. It is not a backup, it is redundency. So, if one drive fails, you lose no up time, and you can swap out for a new drive. But it is not backup. If the original poster is "backing up" to his RAID array, he really does not have a viable backup. If the RAID array fails, or the Buffalo unit itself fails, he has possibly lost his "backup." Backup in this situation requires another device, such as a connected USB drive to the back of the Buffalo unit. You then backup to there.

[drmemory]

well said - even now in 2013, it seems that most people still do not fully understand what backing up data truly means. We still have customers call, that moved all their data off their computer, to one external hard drive or NAS, to free up space in their computer. That is not a backup, since they still have all their data in one place, even if the enclosure has multiple hard drives. If you consider your data, music, videos, etc, important - you need to store it in two separate locations.

[Dutchrookie]

Thanks to both of you for the reply and great answer.

Learned alot more now. I have got a extra backup on a external hd with my more important data. And the data on my nas i could get again, but it will just take me days or weeks.

I must say in first i thought i would use it as my total backup, bit after reading the reply i will not.

Thanks peeps