Tell me about building a RAID

[Core Shot]

I bought a 300GB hard drive at Staples today for $99.

Not that I know anything about RAIDs, but if anyone else needs storage, that seems pretty cheap.

An old Pentium box with 4 of those would be a cheap 1.2TB nework storage option.

[RShea]

Think I'll take back earlier statement that RAID is not ready for home use yet. Last year I read RAID via USB technology was 'right around the corner' and now I see there are some products out there, such as this RAID 1 system that connects to your computer via a USB port. The upper-capacity limits on those are smaller that what you're looking for, but if you search for USB RAID you'll probably find bigger.

Question for RShea, or others; I recall from past experience that if you ever change out a drive in a Raid 5 box, and want the new drive to work hands off (i.e., formatted, data copied from the other operating drives, etc., used to call this hot swapping) there were some restrictions on the new drives hardware, such as the geometry had to be the same, possibly had to be by the same manufacturer, or some limitations like that. Do you know anything about that?

Best rule of thumb is the drive should match as close as possible. Especially specs for the transfer, spin speed, etc. Size does not have to match (but does have to be as big or bigger and the extra portion of the bigger drive would not be usable). So if the exact same model is available then that is best, otherwise a bigger but equal in most every way drive from the same manufacturer is the rule I use.

The hot swapping is really a term used for switching out the drive without powering down the computer at all. The drives have capability of being disconnected (either via a tray or similar device usually) with the computer still running and the replacement is slid into the unit and is resynced with the data. You can still do a drive via cold swapping (power down the computer system) and then power back on and the raid can continue the sync etc. after that. Do not confuse the swapping with the controller data syncing recovery features.

[RShea]

If you decide you need raid (due to the size and redunancy issues) then the solution is going to be rather expensive. Again it is about what is acceptable from a storage archiving (if you need all the data on line all the time, or just the most recent projects, etc.) Just like document imaging solutions there are ways of having the data moved off the storage both for archive and back-up. If you can have the last 2 years and prior info archived, then that is cheaper than all 5 years. But if your needs are such that you need to be able to search all 5 years and have it available without going to off line disks, then plan on some major expense. Tape or DVD archives are not eliminated with raid (what happens if the place burns down?)

So this raid box still may need on and off site back-up and it could be set up so only current projects are stored and then moved off after a period of time. Just too many variables and things that need to be discussed for this to be a final recommendation for a solution on a forum like this.

[Free Range Lobster]

I think a big issue here would be:

"How much are you willing to spend."

That'll clear up alot of random answers here.

[Lurch]

I just got one of these in the mail Friday. It's loaded with 12 72G 15,000 RPM SCSI drives connected to a SUN T200 over Fiber. Might be a little more than you are looking to spend though. The StorEdge alone costs ~40,000.

[Nobody Famous]

I bought a 300GB hard drive at Staples today for $99.

Not that I know anything about RAIDs, but if anyone else needs storage, that seems pretty cheap.

An old Pentium box with 4 of those would be a cheap 1.2TB nework storage option.

PSA: Outpost.com, the online site for of Fry's Electronics, has a 300 Gb drive for $100, and a 200 Gb for $70. Go to Hard Drives and Memory > Advertised Specials. I wish Fry's had b&m stores on the EC.

[Ski Monkey]

I just got one of these in the mail Friday. It's loaded with 12 72G 15,000 RPM SCSI drives connected to a SUN T200 over Fiber. Might be a little more than you are looking to spend though. The StorEdge alone costs ~40,000.

Damn. That's some nice hardware. What are you using it for?

[wildstyle]

We use these at work .... lots of them.

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/s...eva/index.html

and

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...555&l=en&s=biz


At the last check , we had 2540 Terabytes in our group alone.



If you're looking for the best, cheapest, most efficient, most redundant solution then you're in good company. We all do this whether we're building home systems or outfitting a whole datacentre.

It comes down to one thing. How much cash are you willing to part with and how much space do you need now , in 6 months / 1 year / 2 years / 3 years.

If you can give us these numbers, we can probably give you the most cost effective home solution.

[mtbakerskier]

We use these at work .... lots of them.

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/s...eva/index.html

and

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...555&l=en&s=biz


At the last check , we had 2540 Terabytes in our group alone.



If you're looking for the best, cheapest, most efficient, most redundant solution then you're in good company. We all do this whether we're building home systems or outfitting a whole datacentre.

It comes down to one thing. How much cash are you willing to part with and how much space do you need now , in 6 months / 1 year / 2 years / 3 years.

If you can give us these numbers, we can probably give you the most cost effective home solution.

LOL, well, right now I need 1T of storage in a raid 5 config. However I project my selfing needing 1~2T per year starting next year. Oh yeah I want to spend the least amount possible.

[wildstyle]

Is having it as a single growing repository important or could you handle adding a new repository each time you buy a new unit ?

[mtbakerskier]

Is having it as a single growing repository important or could you handle adding a new repository each time you buy a new unit ?

It is very important to have a single growing repository.

[RShea]

When you same same repository, I think you mean "the PB/iMac sees the repository as a SINGLE drive." Is that correct?

I though scalable RAID was an oxymoron, but a google search revealed some information on scalable RAID controllers.

http://www.phptr.com/articles/article.asp?p=20490&rl=1

http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=2868

I don't know how easy this is to do as a home job. The OS/controller card setup/upgrade might be pretty complicated. Sounds cool though?

It is all in the controller features, as others have incorrectly stated, there are controllers that will allow expanding the raid depending on the model and some will allow it by adding drives, others by placing higher capacity drives in place of lower.

[fool]

http://www.infrant.com/main.html
http://www.drobo.com/

Those are both pretty good for personal, professional-esque NAS' from what I've heard. There was a thread over at FM in General Gear a few weeks ago about the same topic (yes, I know this one is old).

-fool