An RPI4 based file server

Finally remembered to send off the nvme disk for RMA. Western Digital's website made it relatively easy to do. Hope it gets back to me in a couple of weeks.
 
WD is very efficient at generating RMA's, but kind of sparse on information after the fact. I'm hoping that it just takes a while to get through their system. Big companies can be like that. My package was delivered to them on Thursday 10 June, according to UPS. My RMA status doesn't even show the fact they have received it, nor the tracking number that they issued to me. Will have to keep on waiting...
 
Supposed to receive the replacement NVME disk June 30th. Server has been off since May 31st. Been a while. Good thing, this wasn't for a business!
 
This showed up today. So back to thinking about this.
PXL_20210630_190847913.jpg
 
Interesting project! I have been running large file servers here at my house for a couple of decades. I chose Debian for the OS, and of course Raspberry Pi OS is a compatible derivative of Debian. I started with a 5 disk RAID5 system running on a second hand 1RU Intel server and a RAID enclosure from... somewhere. I don't recall where. The system has gone through numerous hardware upgrades, and of course regular upgrades to the OS. Currently I am running dual servers with a pair of 512G RAID1 SSD drives for booting on each server. I have a 16 drive enclosure with eight 8T drives fed from each server in RAID6 configurations, giving each server 44T of useable data space.
 
I mirror my servers using rsync. If you still are working on a solution, I would be happy to lend a hand.
 
I've tried Raid5, and Raid1 (hardware based) and had some serious disappointments. I now use rsync for making active backups of important data. My servers are 16Tb, but badly in need of an upgrade...
 
I have used hardware RAID in the past, and I absolutely do not recommend it to anyone. My advice is to stay away from it like the plague. One should also realize RAID is *NOT* a backup solution. RAID and a backup solution do two different things. Most systems these days are better served by at least RAID6, given the size of readily available disks in the two digit terabyte range. Resyncing can in some cases take days, during which time a second disk failure is not all too unlikely. I maintain 2 backup solutions. The first is rsync. Every morning at 04:00AM, my backup server pulls over any new or updated files from my main server. I also keep off-site backups using the excellent dar utility (similar to the venerable tar utility, but designed for random access targets.)
 
ZFS for the win. So much nicer to work with than RAID.
 
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