Comments on: What Is RAID Storage & Can I Use It On My Home PC? [Technology Explained]

By: Sixgunsteve

Sixgunsteve — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:38:00 +0000

Tux sounds like a person you would want to avert having a discussion or difference of opinion about any subject. Do not confuse Tux with facts…his mind is already made up. Maybe he should place his brain in gear before his mouth goes into motion. What a tool !!!!!!!!!!!

By: James Bruce

James Bruce — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:44:00 +0000

Unwillingness to learn, eh? I really don’t think an operating system is something the average user should be forced to “learn”. They shouldn’t need to consult a forum when their wifi doesn’t connect; they shouldn’t need to read a guide to figure out how to install software. Apathy to move *away* from familiar windows is a good reason perhaps, but I’d argue strongly against linux still being anyway near the level of user-friendliness that OSX has. Right now you DO need a manual for ubuntu or whatever other flavour of the month linux is popular.

Oh, and “semi-hardware” alone gets 97 million results – Fakeraid gets 192,000. I’ll use whatever terms I like in my own article – feel free to apply at the next call for writers though, as it’d be great to have another linux pro on the team to bring your knowledge to the world.

As for semantics, ITIL defines a backup as “ Copying data to protect against loss of Integrity or Availability of the original.” – a mirrored RAID setup fulfils this definition and can therefore be considered a backup. Easy.

Can we stop this now? I’m sorry I didn’t talk about linux in my article, it was an unconscious decision just as I also didn’t include IRIX, BSD, os/2, or any other non user-level OSes. I don’t have anything against those OSes, nor people who use them, but I’m not going to write about them.

By: tux!

tux! — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:54:00 +0000

“Neither are suitable operating systems for any kind of entry level user”

I disagree strongly.Many linux distributions are suitable for any kind of new or inexperienced user, and I have plenty of proof for it. Apathy against real alternatives and unwillingness to learn (both equal to laziness) are the only real reason why adoption hasn’t been better. Oh and not to mention force-feeding windogs with almost all new computers.”so I think my term semi-hardware is quite suitable”Of course, for you, since you came up with it. Nobody really uses that term, believe me.Let’s do a simple googlefight, shall we?”semi-hardware” +raid = 3990 hits”fakeraid” +raid = 118000 hitsAnd please, go read the pages that use term fakeraid and you’ll finally see.

“because most users would consider a redundant RAID setup to be a backup – yet it isn’t,”

Then it certainly isn’t about semantics. You should bluntly say yourself that it isn’t a backup solution, instead of telling it is.

By: James Bruce

James Bruce — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:09:00 +0000

I’m still trying to gauge the interest – but thanks for the reminder!

By: James Bruce

James Bruce — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:08:00 +0000

Thanks for your input Tux, you certainly aren’t wrong. However, a very small minority of our readers use linux on the desktop (less than 5% in fact), and even less use BSD. Neither are suitable operating systems for any kind of entry level user, but that’s an entirely different discussion I don’t want to go into here. If linux works for you, then great, but please don’t get annoyed when it isn’t talked about as a major operating system that’s significant in the home user market, because it isn’t.

I think you invented the term “fakeraid”, to be honest! You said yourself it’s performed via a slow (hardware) chip, so I think my term semi-hardware is quite suitable.

You’re right though – RAID should not ever be used in place of a real ‘backup’ system, but arguing over semantics isn’t the point of this article either. I mentioned it from a users perspective, because most users would consider a redundant RAID setup to be a backup – yet it isn’t, and other methods are better.

By: James Bruce

James Bruce — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Because as I stated in the article, the only thing that differentiates them is the precise algorithm for placing data and parity information. This article is supposed to be a beginner level introduction to the technology of RAID, not a in-depth technical definintion of the various types of RAID in commercial use.

By: tux!

tux! — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:52:00 +0000

Also, why were the real raids (5, 6, 1+0) skipped completely? Nobody’s going to use RAID2..
(Sucks how this discus completely obliterates crlf’s)

By: tux!

tux! — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:50:00 +0000

“Both OSX and Windows have the ability” .. blah. “Both?”Linux, BSD’s, all other variants also have this and available from the get-go when installing the system. Also along with RAID one can have LVM and encryption, everything done smoothly and configured easily. Can’t say the same for win/osx.”but bear in mind that this is going to increase the load on your operating system”With today’s systems it’s really negligible, even on systems with atom processors encrypted raids are fine.”motherboards also include a form of semi-hardware RAID”You invented this term yourself, when the standard way is to call it what it is – fakeraid.Software raid done via a sluggish chip. Nothing more.”data redundancy you gain can be easily achieved with other traditional backup methods.”RAID is NOT a backup.It is meant to keep the system running without interruption in case of a hardware failure and to have the chance to replace the broken drive(s) without losing data and having to restore from backups, which one should have even with RAIDed system, of course.As said, installing two drives in RAID1 when setting up a new system does not involve any trouble at all. Just a few options and everything will be taken care of.Please, try and see for yourself, eg. by installing Debian, Ubuntu or FreeBSD.

By: Justin9

Justin9 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:13:00 +0000

dude still waitng for your object oriented tutorials …….!!!