SATA RAID

["Mark Harrison (Groups)" <mph@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There's been a big discussion about these on another list I'm a member
of (Sussex Linux User Group).

One of the posters made some interesting points about SATA drives, which
are probably relevant to many of us here. I don't claim to be able to
comment on the technical validity of what he's been saying (for the day
job, we use SCSI arrays), but the poster is an IT consultant
specialising in this kind of thing (oh and has a 1Tb+ array at home.)

> Remember - you can't just stick lots of disks in an enclosure
> if they're not designed for it.
>
> Hard Disk drives can handle high frequency vibrations without a care
> in the world, they're designed for it. However, they're not so
> accustomed  to low frequency vibrations - the exact kind that a
> large number of disks creates :
>
> This is one of the reason SCSI disks are so expensive - they're
> designed to cope with LF vibrations generated when you put 3+
> disks in one enclosure. That's also why you can get "SATA
RAID"
> disks - they're designed for bulk use.
>
> Just remember - sticking a large number of cheap disks in a single
> enclosure can cause problems - if this is a mission critical system, I
> would consider SCSI disks, or if price is an issue, SATA RAID disks.

Regards,

Mark