RE: RAID recommendations?

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, but I should have probably made clear that for various reasons
(NON=
E of which are anything to do with any kind of *NIX/Windows zealotry), in
t=
his particular instance the storage server would definately be a windows
bo=
x, - most likely XP MCE... (but possibly 2003 server)
=20
But OS choices aside, at the moment I'm more interested in narrowing down
m=
y hardware choices... - there are quite a few suitable cards available
from=
the likes of Promise/Highpoint and others, with prices ranging from =A350-=
odd to =A3300-odd
=20
One that I'm giving serious consideration to at the moment is the
Highpoint=
RocketRaid RR1820A 8Ch SATA Raid Adaptor, which can be had for about =A316=
0 delivered...
=20
This has the following features that I'm attracted to...
=20
8 SATA ports - I can add a few drives now, and have expansion capability
la=
ter as/when I need
PCI  *and*  PCI-X compatible (so I can use my current m/board with a PCI
sl=
ot, but have an upgrade path to a PCI-X slot later)
Arrays can be expanded by adding more drives (without data loss I believe)
Has a "gigabyte boundary" feature so that drives of very slightly
different=
sizes can be mixed in an array with minimal loss of capacity
Reasonable price!
=20
BUT!!!
=20
I have had bad experiences in the past with Highpoint controllers
(embedded=
motherboard ones that is), and I know a few other people have in the past =
as well... - however, it may well be the case that things have improved
sin=
ce I last used a Highpoint controller, so what I'm really most interested
i=
n is personal experiences (good or bad), that might help sway my
decision..=
.
=20
Cheers.
=20
Paul G.
=20
=20

________________________________

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx on behalf of David Greaves
Sent: Thu 15/09/2005 19:56
To: UKHA_D Group
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] RAID recommendations?



If it's a dedicated box for personal use as a server then consider linux
and sw raid.

You get excellent managment (mdadm or EVMS), great performance and you
can use commodity (none-accelerated) cards, mix IDE, SATA (and, god
forbid, even USB or remote drives in a push!). RAID 0,1,5,6,10 and many
other combinations.

You can run Samba to share with other systems and have excellent
web-based admin.

A big benefit over HW raid is that if the card dies in a couple (or 5)
years and is not made anymore then you're not toasted! (and this happens
more than you may expect!). You can also migrate over to larger drives
and/or faster controller cards. You can upgrade the motherboard
underneath to say an AMD64 with whatever super IO exists in a few years
and it will all just carry on working.

I run a 1.2Tb raid5 system with 6x250Gb SATA and a 250Gb PATA as a hot
spare (started life as a 4 disk PATA BTW). It runs on an old 1200Mhz
machine and provides plenty of performance for editing multi-Gb video
files whilst reading and writing multiple TV programmes.

Sure I couldn't run a cable head-end from it but!!!

If you want to know more then just ask.

David


Paul Gordon wrote:

> Is anyone actually using an IDE or SATA RAID card?
>
> Looking around, I see an increasing number of choices appearing now, -
> many more cards support more advanced RAID modes than was the case a
> year or so ago, and prices seem to have dropped quite a bit as well.
>
> Knowing that my DVD server is going to run out of storage in a few
> months, I'm intending to rebuild my whole storage solution, and this
> time I plan to do it "properly"
>
> a NAS solution like the Buffalo Terrastation will be in the running as
> well, but I also want to look at a traditional storage server as well,
> - since I think this may offer me more flexibility...
>
> So I am looking for personal recommendations for RAID controllers...
>
> - I'll consider either IDE or SATA - but I'd prefer to make the switch
> to SATA now... (or SATA-2 for that matter)
> - I'll consider either PCI or PCIe cards, - PCIe would require
> purchasing a new motherboard as well to support it, but if that's what
> it takes, then so be it...
> - I'd prefer cards that support at least 4 drives, more are fine, but
> don't wan't to use 2-port SATA cards really...
> - Not too bothered about the price (shock!) - I'm prepared to pay good
> money if the features, quality & reliability justifies it, - but
> within limits... - above =A3200-=A3300 is probably getting into silly
> money territory for this excercise...
> - RAID 5 support is a must.
> - Controllers that allow for array expansion in the future would be
> preferred, - either by upgrading to larger drives, or by allowing an
> array to span across more than 1 card... (although an 8-port card will
> probably see me right for quite a while!)
> - Hot spare support would be nice, but not essential, - if/when a
> drive fails, I don't have a problem having to replace it myself...
>
>
> Also looking for recommendations for hot-pluggable SATA caddies....
>
> Note, - I've already searched around and found plenty of controllers
> that I could choose, - what I am after now is personal experiences and
> recommendations...
>
> TIA
>
> Paul G.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> SPONSORED LINKS
> Home improvement lead
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DHome+improvement+lead&w1=3DHome+=
improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+improvement+fin=
ancing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+improvement+lo=
an&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3DAozx6MXsPXjMQ1Pl7rMI=
1g>
>       Home improvement electrical
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w1=
=3DHome+improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+improve=
ment+financing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+improv=
ement+loan&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3D9tg9qpwlUff_=
XgeuDxjStg>
>       Home improvement financing
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DHome+improvement+financing&w1=3D=
Home+improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+improvemen=
t+financing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+improveme=
nt+loan&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3Dd0PYFxBWlK6yt5o=
r76kM3A>
>
> Home improvement refinancing
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w1=
=3DHome+improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+improve=
ment+financing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+improv=
ement+loan&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3D0l7uMgLucLAD=
ri0S2z7czA>
>       No equity home improvement loan
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DNo+equity+home+improvement+loan&=
w1=3DHome+improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+impro=
vement+financing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+impr=
ovement+loan&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3DYXjzIC6nHZ=
Rp2YcyefHUyw>
>       Maryland home improvement
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=3Dms&k=3DMaryland+home+improvement&w1=3DH=
ome+improvement+lead&w2=3DHome+improvement+electrical&w3=3DHome+improvement=
+financing&w4=3DHome+improvement+refinancing&w5=3DNo+equity+home+improvemen=
t+loan&w6=3DMaryland+home+improvement&c=3D6&s=3D194&.sig=3DsMK2B0ACjxOI2tDk=
-bLz9A>
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
>     *  Visit your group "ukha_d
>       <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukha_d>"
on the web.
>=20=20=20=20=20=20=20
>     *  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>        ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx
>       <mailto:ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx?subject=3DUnsubscribe>
>=20=20=20=20=20=20=20
>     *  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
>       Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>


--