Backup the backup USB drive?

Hey all!!

2 questions...
First question:
I was considering getting a 500gig external USB disk:

(http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/LaCie_E...?tag=pdtl-list)

Of course, if anyone can suggest something better, please tell. Now I
want to use that drive for just media (videos, music, pics etc). The
thing is, I'm worried about what happens if one day the new external
drive dies. In order to prevent that, I was wondering how difficult it
would be if I purchased say 2 of them, and wanted to "sync" them every
once in a while. I'd use the first disk regularly for new mp3s etc,
then every month say "sync" the two drives together. Can this be done
reasonably easily? What software would people recommend?

Second Question:
I have at the moment 2 Ultra ATA drives (80gig, 120gig) and a UW SCSI
drive (9gig). I want to upgrade my system to UATA HARDWARE (save the
CPU) RAID 1 (disk mirroring rite?). and dump the SCSI disk/controller.
In order to do this, I wanted to know:

1. While keeping my 200Gig of usable capacity, and not having to
reinstall everything or throw any hard disks away, what's the best way
to set something up? Was thinking of getting a 220gig drive or
something and partitioning it to 80 and 120gigs, but I think with
hardware RAID that might not work. What are my options here, and what
controller would people recommend? Is a caching controller worth the
money?

Phew... thanks for reading so far, I hope I've been clear!! Look
forward to any responses ^_^ My email address is wrong, so just reply
to the group.

Thanks!!
Raj

abd08 wrote:
Hey all!!

2 questions...
First question:
I was considering getting a 500gig external USB disk:


(http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/LaCie_E...?tag=pdtl-list)

Of course, if anyone can suggest something better, please tell. Now I
want to use that drive for just media (videos, music, pics etc).

The Warranty is only one Year,so i would say,dont buy it!
Two external USB/Firewire-Enclosures with each a 400GB Hitachi/Seagate
Disk would be better/cheaper.Also this would work with at least XP SP1.

With 2 Lacie BigDisks,there are 4 Drives (2 Drives in each BigDisk).So
the Failure Rate is twice compared to 2 independent Single Drives.


The
thing is, I'm worried about what happens if one day the new external
drive dies. In order to prevent that, I was wondering how difficult
it
would be if I purchased say 2 of them, and wanted to "sync" them
every
once in a while. I'd use the first disk regularly for new mp3s etc,
then every month say "sync" the two drives together. Can this be done
reasonably easily? What software would people recommend?

Really easy and free with xxcopy from www.xxcopy.com
A single "xxcopy d:\ e:\ /clone" will write the contents of the first
Disk to the second.If you want to sync the second to the first
Drive,just revert the Drive Letters.

Second Question:
I have at the moment 2 Ultra ATA drives (80gig, 120gig) and a UW SCSI
drive (9gig). I want to upgrade my system to UATA HARDWARE (save the
CPU) RAID 1 (disk mirroring rite?). and dump the SCSI
disk/controller.
In order to do this, I wanted to know:

1. While keeping my 200Gig of usable capacity, and not having to
reinstall everything or throw any hard disks away, what's the best
way
to set something up? Was thinking of getting a 220gig drive or
something and partitioning it to 80 and 120gigs, but I think with
hardware RAID that might not work. What are my options here, and what
controller would people recommend?


Raid 1 or 5 onto different Disk-Sizes will give you only the Capacity
of the smallest Disk!
I am currently looking at JBOD-Controllers.They will treat each Disk
independently.They dont offer any Raid at this Moment to you,but you
could keep your ATA-Disks.
Try this:Ghost your 80GB and your 120GB Drive onto the new 200GB
Disk.Then put them onto the JBOD-Controller and look,what will happen.

But at the Moment,i dont know,if they will write some special "Code"
onto the Disks,so that the Data on there will be lost.I think no,but i
dont know it yet.

Is a caching controller worth the money?

Yes!An older Mylex SCSI Raid Adapter wrote around 7MB/sec,with some
Cache put on it,it wrote about 11-12MB/sec.Its worth and Memory are
cheap now.


Phew... thanks for reading so far, I hope I've been clear!! Look
forward to any responses ^_^ My email address is wrong, so just reply
to the group.

Thanks!!
Raj

I would only reply to the Group.For personal Support via Mail i charge
150$/hour.Just a joke :-))

I use Directory Compare to synchronize or update folders, has always
worked well for me.

http://tp.lc.ehu.es/jma/win95.html

Irwin