NAS with automatic cloud backup

[watercooled]

I just don't see the point in the extra cost of RAID1. Sure, if you have an unlimited budget then why not, in fact why not run RAID1 on 4 disks? It guards against a single problem, not accidental deletion, not filesystem corruption, not malware, not power disturbances, not physical damage, not anything but a HDD failing by itself. Yes, it can happen but amongst all the other (more likely) scenarios, it's money wasted IMO. RAID was designed a fair while ago so you could combine some cheaper disks instead of using a much more expensive reliable disk, today's cheap HDDs are far more reliable and in a home environment it's generally used either for performance or through the assumption it's a substitute for backup. I mean RAID does have its uses but it's not what a lot of people think it is.

[Splash]

*shrug* I guess it really depends on what you're looking for. For the cost of £40 or so which means I don't need to worry about spending time copying data that's as old as my last offline backup by keeping things running while my replacement disk arrives (because if you only have one disk as your offline backup as soon as you drop that in the box you no longer have a local offline backup, and then you have to do a full backup of all data when the replacement disk arrives) I'll pick up the tab for that.

To me that cost is cheaper than what I value my time at to go through the hassle described above. The same value judgement may not be the same for yourself, or the OP.

[watercooled]

Of course, if it's for you then by all means go ahead, that's just my opinion of it (and I do try to encourage people to re-think using RAID for obvious reasons, I've seen the OP's story too many times!).

[Splash]

Absolutely - far too many people wheel it out with a view that it means that they don't need to keep backups (or even worse, think that RAID0 will give them far better performance in every possible situation, and then don't bother keeping backups). I just think that the convenience of what I suggested more than justifies the cost of an extra disk, especially as it sounds like the OP is wanting to keep things as automated as possible (NOTE - YOU STILL REALLY WANT TO KEEP OFFLINE BACKUPS THOUGH!)