If your data is important to you, and whose data is not, you should think about using mirrored drives.  With a mirrored drive, your data is saved to two different physical disks at the same time.  So, if one disk fails, your data is still up-to-date, and you can still operate with the other drive.  Your system will switch to run on the remaining good drive automatically.

Mirroring can be done via software, or hardware.  We recommend using hardware mirroring, as it does not put any additional load on the server.  All of the load of writing to both drives is done on the controller hardware.

Taking it a step further, if you install a system with hot-swappable drives, you do not even have to shut the system down to effect repair.  If a drive fails, you will be notified, usually with a console message, and a light on the drive will indicate a failed condition.  Simply unplug that drive, and plug in a replacement drive.  The system will start re-mirroring the drive.  When it is fully mirrored again, it switches back to using both drives as mirrors automatically.  You do not need to do anything other than replace the drive.  You do not need to shut your system down at all.

CCS offers HP, Radiant, and several other mirrored drive systems.  Contact us to help you convert your servers to mirrored drives.