A smooth resolution to a data nightmare

For the last three years, the majority of our data, including those photographs, have been centralised on a NAS device, a decision I made with a couple of goals in mind:

• To allow shared access whilst maintaining a single copy of the files.
• To simplify backup to an external drive. I wouldn’t have to try and find important files on different machines.

The problem with regular backups to removable media is how frequent these regular copies need to be. I could loose a huge amount of information between daily backups, and I’d consider such a regime to be extremely rigourous.

So I decided to move to a Synology DS-207 NAS which provides the ability to use RAID drive mirroring… and the external backup too.

The mirroring keeps the contents of two independent 500Gb drives synchronised at all times: two independent copies of my precious data, and until last week it had remained untested. That was when the beeping started.

In my heart I knew what it meant, but I decided to double check the manual before booting my laptop and checking the web interface. There it told me that the RAID volume was broken, tried to repair the faulty drive, and finally pronounced it dead at the scene.

Gutted at the loss of my drive, I took heart from the fact the my data appeared to be safe, and I could still use it even if I was down to a single drive.

Feeling perilously exposed, I quickly ordered a new drive of the same size which, upon arrival, only took about 15 minutes to install. Once the NAS had booted up it verified the new drive was fit for purpose, formatted it and synchronised it with the crash survivor.

I’m not going to claim that RAID is a complete solution to data security; in addition I use external copies, cloned drives and off-site backup, but I’m definitely pleased with my decision, if only because of the continuity of workflow is provides in the face of a crisis.