# Hardware Raid Configuration Advice for a WMC/NAS build



## QuadDamage (Apr 25, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I need a little help. 

I have an existing Windows Media Center setup:

* Intel Pentium CPU (Socket 115)
* Gigabyte GA-H77-D3H-MVP motherboard
* Windows 7 32-bit
* 4GB 
* Quad Tuners (two dual tuners)
* nVidia GT610 GPU
* Several harddrives at the moment. No RAID configuration. O/S on one HD, rest for data/media (WMC case accommodates 4 HDD)
* 1Gb Ethernet network
* More than adequate power-supply.

The WMC is working perfectly and is rock solid.

I'm looking to setup a NAS box. I was originally going to invest in a dedicated NAS box, but I was thinking I could move to making my WMC the NAS. Particularly since I'm actually limited for space (yes, I know NAS boxes are small these days, but still...).

To see if making my WMC the NAS, I wanted to see the feasibility of using my existing (above) kit to setup RAID configurations with the exception of the harddrives.

* I basically want to have redundancy for my Windows 7 build which is sitting on it's own harddrive. I also want to have redundancy for my data/media.
* I don't want to rebuild or image/reimage my Windows 7 build. I just won't have the time (or the patience of that!). 

*Considering the points above and my motherboard (see above), I'm keen to get your expertise feedback on how I can best tackle this?* (for example can I run two separate mirrors; one for the O/S drives and another mirror for the data drives (can my mobo even do this?) or any other RAID configuration?)

Ultimately, if this works I'll run the WMC/NAS 24x7 and it'll continue with WMC duties. But also then be used to stream media for PLEX devices (Xbox, etc), and used as a central file/document repository.

Thanks for your help!


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You can create as many RAID arrays has you have room for discs. There isn't a limit.

However, in the scenario you outlined above, you need twice as many discs as you intend to actually use at any one time. For example, 1 OS + 2 data drives = 6 drives (the second RAID has to be identical to the first).

Patience is not having a backup and needing to install the OS and all applications from scratch and then reconfigure everything. Booting from a USB or CD and then copying a disc image onto a replacement drive is easy and only costs you a bit of time. There is nothing that needs to be setup or configured, and the only time spent is the amount of time needed to copy the image from the storage HDD to the replaced HDD.

I will add that RAID is not a replacement for an actual backup. So if you truly want to be safe from data loss/corruption, you still need to create backups.


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

No form of RAID ever devised is a legitimate backup solution. The purpose of RAID (except RAID 0) is to maintain access to your data, or OS in the event of a drive failure. That allows delaying replacement of the drive to a more convenient time. This is a big deal on a busy server but usually not so much on a client system. If that is your reason for using RAID, fine.

But RAID will only protect your data against drive failure and you can't even rely on that. For all other sources of data loss it provides no protection at all. To protect your data you need to maintain backups. There is no substitute.


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