Need advice on a RAID Level + Backup question

[eiger]

I'm getting my QNAP TS-410+ any day now. (4 bay x 2TB).

I keep going back and forth on a few concepts and I'm looking for clarification from the pros.

1) redundancy. I have a fairly typical setup. A couple laptops and a PC at the moment. Storage needs are just your basic your video/pictures and other types of content. I will be streaming content off of it as well. Writing TO the NAS will be less frequent.

Question is this -

Do you recommend RAID 1 or 5 based on the above information? My understanding is that while RAID 5 usually only becomes really beneficial when you're talking about lots and lots of drives. Am I better off performance wise if I settle on a mirror set?

2) Do you guys find it easier to save all of your documents/videos/files directly onto your NAS from wherever you are working? I know some people just keep stuff on whichever machine they are on, and let the NAS run backups/syncs to the NAS. Thoughts?

Thanks all!

 

[eiger]

125 views, no replies. Ouch.

 

[thiggins]

Performance will be a wash between RAID 1 and 5. Since you purchased a RAID 5 capable NAS, why wouldn't you use it.

If you use the NAS as primary storage, then you need to back it up.
If the NAS is used for backup, then you don't need a backup as long as you are ok with having to re-backup everything to it again.