Backup and RAID for small Mac servers

I believe there should be two systems in place to preserve up-time for small Mac servers. One is to RAID 1 (mirror) both data and OS drives, the other is to use an external Firewire drive to backup the OS. Here are the steps I would recommend to have in place for this to happen.

First, backup the system now with a Firewire drive. This is cheap and easy. OS drives or partitions are usually very small, so any extra drive you may have will do. Put it in an external Firewire case, plug it in and use Disk utility to format it. Then use Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) to clone the OS drive or partition onto the Firewire drive. There, you're done! If your OS fails you replace it, boot from Firewire, then reverse the clone and reboot from the new perfect drive. Or, if you do not have 20 min. You can just boot from the Firewire drive and run the server from that until you do have the time!

The second system is to have a RAID setup. Here is how I would go about putting this in place for a small school.
Step One RAID 1 (mirror) setup

• Enclosure: Use two disk eSATA box.
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATCASE2&c=CA
• Reason: inexpensive, easy to move to other machines if needed. (est. street price $99.00 CND)
  
• Options: consider buying extra trays. (est. street price $27.00 / ea CND)
• Sata Adapter: Use onboard SATA if G5 if not purchase card
• If G5 use simple bracket to bring internal port to external of machine (purchase 2!)
  
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATAPLATE1&c=CA
• Reason: works, and plain cheap! (est. street price $9.25/ea CND)
  
• If G4 you will need to purchase a sata adapter card
• Link: http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?329570
• Reason: well, um G4s do not have SATA :) (est. street price $99.00 CND)
  
• Two eSATA cables: buy two where every you find them
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATA3&c=CA
• Note: I'm sure you can find eSATA cables cheaper than this, so hunt for them.
• Disks: Get two of the same model at the same time. Look for specials
• Link:http://www.geeks.com/pix/2007/FREECASE17Jan07.html?cpc=HPM

Step Two RAID software

• Only one choice here: Softraid
• Link: http://www.softraid.com/
• Reason: I have been using this software forever. It works, the tech support is the best I've ever used. Period.

The easiest way to go from a single or double non-raid drive setup to using RAID is to install Softraid on the existing drives. Then setup the external RAID box. Use the Softraid to RAID both drives together in RAID 1 (mirror). Then partition the RAID container into two logical drives; one for OS (no larger than 20 GB), and the other for DATA. Now use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the existing drives over. Shutdown, disconnect the old drives, and reboot to the new external RAID box. Hey, I just thought of something. Why not use the original drives as your external Firewire backup drives! Cool eh!

Just a note. This is for the small shop that can't afford dedicated RAID 5 or 10 boxes, or NASs and the like. This is software RAID, which is reliable but not fast. If you have lots of users you'll need to go to Hardware RAID, which will need dedicated cards, boxes and more drives. However, I use this kind of RAID for our school of 450 students and 35 staff. We throw Gigs around and haven't lost one yet!