Dunno if have ever thought about the problems of storage & redundancy and the headache it causes us mere mortals but I have a suggestion.
With the advent of USB3.0 & 3.1 its so easy just to add another drive to the system and get more storage space. Volumes are really problematic as if you lose a disk then its likely the whole volume is lost.
Also physical constraints of Raid arrays and disk size cause so much work and headaches with many often over spending with guesstimates to future proof.
I thought I would post this here because I have never seen it before and if it exists please post but I have to question why we bother with the constraints and limitations of RAID or disk upgrades when we can just add another drive and concatenate via a unionFS such as AuFS or OverlayFS?
Its knocks off the R from RAID but USB AID (Array Inexpensive Disks) for many is extremely simple and logical. If you need more space then add another drive and its that simple.
I am looking at smaller systems but the throughput on USB 3.0 & 3.1 is such that at least SoHO can be provided for and depending on disk choice highly likely of a much bigger scale.
Also unlike volumes if we lose a disk only the data on that disk will be lost so a collection of multiple small disks can minimize failure disruption.
I have been looking at some of the online backup services such as Amazon Glacier Or Google Cold Line and I keep thinking fault tolerant disk arrays as opposed to redundant makes sense and it can be done via a unionFS.
The cost of those online services is so low that as long as you can continue its a matter of replacing the lost disk and accessing your online archive.
So I would be interested in what you think or any alternatives you may think is better?
I am going to leave it open but yeah a completely different strategy to data integrity might actually be more suitable for many.
Even if there is a mirror of recent accesses and writes the current monolithic way we treat storage has raised some questions to its need in many cases.
We keep huge amounts of local redundant data that is never accessed apart from extremely infrequently.