RAID failures: learned the hard way that RAID is not backup

marcus_qc

Member OP

Joined:: Jun 2024
Posts:: 301
From:: Montreal, CA

3mo ago · edited

#1

Hey folks

So I learned this the hard way and wanna save someone else the pain

Running RAID-6 on my Contabo box — https://contabo.com — 6x4TB. Two drives started throwing SMART errors. No biggie, right? RAID-6 handles two failures. Started rebuild, then BAM — third drive drops during rebuild. Not dead, just enough errors to kick it offline.

Everything gone. 8 years of stuff. Client projects, personal photos, the works

I was super stoked on RAID for "backup" and now I'm super stoked to tell you: RAID IS NOT BACKUP. It never was. I just didn't wanna pay for real backup.

Rebuilding now. Cold storage + sync to OVHcloud coming this weekend. Live and learn.

42U and still growing

ali3

Member

Joined:: Feb 2025
Posts:: 15
From:: Istanbul, Turkey

3mo ago · edited

#2

Brother this is why I run hostting on serwer with no RAID at all :-)

Backup to Vultr nightly, Hetzner weekly, and one USB in my drawer. Is working fine for 4 years.

RAID is for uptime, not for safety. You know this now.

pam_blik

Member

adblock evangelist

Joined:: Dec 2024
Posts:: 25
From:: Austin, USA

3mo ago

1 #3

Oh no the REBUILD death that gets everyone eventually

I had IDENTICAL scenario with InterServer last year two drives fine, rebuild KILLED the third

Now I run 3-2-1 like a RELIGION

3 copies of everything that matters
2 different media types (local NAS + cloud)
1 offsite minimum

Veeam to Time4VPS, rclone to Leaseweb cold storage, and a buddy's basement server for the REALLY paranoid stuff

Took me a weekend to set up and now I SLEEP

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