How to mirror two external hard drives?

Ardent

Sorry if this has been asked before...

I'm thinking of buying two external HDDs for backup purposes and would like to set them up as a mirror of each other. The idea is get the two hard drives act as one and copy the same data to each.

How would I go about setting that up? Some sort of RAID software I suppose?

Ardent

Thinking about getting two of these bad boys:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Essential-1-5TB-External/dp/B002KPU3AK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264436622&sr=1-6

Gadgetman496

Ardent wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked before...

I'm thinking of buying two external HDDs for backup purposes and would like to set them up as a mirror of each other. The idea is get the two hard drives act as one and copy the same data to each.

How would I go about setting that up? Some sort of RAID software I suppose?

If I'm reading this correctly? you want one external with all your data on it & the second one to contain exactly the same data? (a double backup with both drives holding the same data?)

Copy your data to one drive

Use Allway Sync to Sync it to the second drive.


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Ardent

Sorry, I'm probably not being clear. This is what I had in mind...

Two external HDDs connected to the PC but managed by some sort of RAID software so that, to the operating system, they appear as one logical device.

I then copy/delete files to/from this device and the changes are replicated across both HDDs. In the event that one HDD fails, the data still be retrieved.

I'm not sure if there's a solution out there for this kind of setup or indeed if there's a better way of doing the same thing?

Voodu Child

You can buy external RAID enclosures. Just put in two drives and the enclosure does the rest.

Or you can buy an external HDD already configured in RAID, most manufacturers make one of these.

Gadgetman496

Ardent wrote: »

Sorry, I'm probably not being clear. This is what I had in mind...

Two external HDDs connected to the PC but managed by some sort of RAID software so that, to the operating system, they appear as one logical device.

I then copy/delete files to/from this device and the changes are replicated across both HDDs. In the event that one HDD fails, the data still be retrieved.

I'm not sure if there's a solution out there for this kind of setup or indeed if there's a better way of doing the same thing?

With one exception (seeing the 2 drives as one) what I'm recommending will do the job the finest for you (I don't think you can Mirror RAID 2 externals?)

For example,

I am a TV episodes hoarder & my collection is sorted & renamed just as I like it. I don't ever want to have to try & get them all again in the event of a loss & don't think I would be able if such a disaster struck :mad:

I store them on a 1TB drive so I use Allway Sync to mirror them onto a second 1TB drive (a bit like wearing two pairs of braces) Allway Sync sees the two drives & at the click of a button it keeps both of them Synced identically. The first Sync takes a little time but thereafter it only needs to replicate any changes between them both. For example, if I delete a file on one drive, add 2,10, or 100 files to one drive, change the content of a Word document on one drive, once I hit the Sync button in Allway Sync all the changes are reflected identically across both drives. It is really simple to setup & use (and it's free too).

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Ardent

Gadgetman - that's interesting. How often do you manually sync the drives? Can you set your sync software to periodicaly sync them automatically?

Ardent

This looks fantastic! And it's network attached. Just need to buy a second drive for it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Stora-Home-Media-Server/dp/B002SNBCSQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264509198&sr=8-1

What do ye think?

Gadgetman496

Ardent wrote: »

Gadgetman - that's interesting. How often do you manually sync the drives? Can you set your sync software to periodicaly sync them automatically?

I use TED to fetch my shows automatically & it bungs them into a predefined folder for me. Maybe once a week I tidy up their names (you know, get rid of all that lol crap etc) then I just hit the Sync button in Allway Sync for that particular job (you can have many different jobs setup in Allway Sync).

Yes, you can automate the process (I just choose to do it manually. (old fashioned I guess )

Your automated Sync options are:

1. When removable device is connected

2. Through a specified period

3. When first changes are detected

4. When computer is idle

5. On application start

6. Before you log out

7. Use Windows Task Scheduler

These are all available under the Job<Properties section & can be configured separately for each individual job.

The Authors motto is "Synchronization that works" and it does flawlessly.

And no, I don't have any connection with them, it's simply very good at what it does.

It is free with no restrictions for what the Author describes as "regular use", but if you are a very high user it does nag you a little about possibly purchasing a license.

I eventually did purchase purely because I thought the program was so good at what it done that the author deserved a bit of support.

It's updated too on a regular basis & supports all the Windows OS's.

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Gadgetman496

Ardent wrote: »

This looks fantastic! And it's network attached. Just need to buy a second drive for it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Stora-Home-Media-Server/dp/B002SNBCSQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264509198&sr=8-1

What do ye think?

It's a matter of choice I guess (whatever floats your boat )

I tried that route but didn't really like it & it's expensive enough too.

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