Erik Wikstrvm wrote: > Hi > > I am setting up a OpenBSD box to act as a router/file-server for my > parents, the box consists mostly of old parts and I try to not spend any > extra money on it. One of my biggest worries is, since it will act as a > file-server which will contain stuff with some emotional value, data- loss. > > The preferable way to solve this would probably be to use two disks but > that is not an option for me. So I was wondering if it is possible to > instead split the disk in two parts, the first is used to install > OpenBSD on, and the rest is split in two and setup in a mirror > configuration using RAIDframe or something similar. If this is possible, > will it buy me any additional protection against dataloss, or is it more > likely that my disk crashes all together?
Possible, yes. Helpful, almost certainly not. Probably hurtful. I've seen a few cases where what you propose MIGHT have saved some data, but the vast majority of disk failures I have seen this wouldn't have helped in the slightest, and the few cases it saved you would be compensated several times over from software complexity bugs and user error. You will also be thrashing the drive more, probably INCREASING the likelihood of failure. EVEN IF sector failure was a significant part of disk failure, what you propose has nothing to do with backup. Less bad would be to periodically copy from one partition to another, so when you rm -r'd in one partition, you might not damage the other. Mirroring and backup have NOTHING to do with each other. Put a dollar value on the emotional value, and mow a few lawns, shovel some snow, whatever, and get a real backup system of some kind. Even if it is another disk on another computer, you will be doing much better than what you propose (and in fact, I think you would be better off with nothing than what you propose.
