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I want to setup a file server and a backup server in another building for our workplace (for clarification: I am talking about two systems, the file server in one building and the backup server in another). We decided we need at least 10 TB storage space. The plan was to buy two 4-slot NAS. Let's say I use RAID5 for the file server and buy 4x 4TB HDDs I would get effectively 12TB of storage, right?

Here is my question: Should I use RAID5 for the file server? It seems the most effective storage-wise, while RAID1 seems safer but I'd have to sacrifice half of the storage. Next question: What HDD sizes and which RAID would be best for the backup?

I already saw this thread, but it is already 6 years old and HDD sizes have changed drastically with 10TB being available. The comments suggested RAID10, is that the best approach nowadays? How are storage and parity divided in RAID10?

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  • Is it a file server, or is it a backup server? These should be treated in almost entirely different ways imo. If you're planning to have your backups on your file server, where are you storing your file server backups? Nov 9, 2016 at 15:52
  • I guess my wording was unclear: One NAS will be the file server, another one (in another building) will be the backup. I am wondering about which RAID should be used for each of them seperately.
    – Ian
    Nov 10, 2016 at 6:56
  • It depends on your specific use case. What load does that file server experience (IOPS)? Is that "backup" system supposed to be a hot spare system or are you actually planning to use it for backups?
    – Seth
    Nov 10, 2016 at 7:03
  • Performance is not too ímportant, safety is key. The backup system is supposed to do daily backups (real backups) while the file server is just supposed to have some sort of parity or hot spare functionality to ensure everything keeps running in case of an error.
    – Ian
    Nov 10, 2016 at 7:09
  • Raid 5 has issues, better use raidz 1 instead. In general, use a solution that includes ZFS. For performance and easy/fast rebuild in case of issues, I would use raid 1, provided you are OK with doubling the raw storage.
    – FarO
    Nov 10, 2016 at 22:49

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