RE: [H] RAID questions
> 3) Do I have to start with a set of blank drives? Right now 1 of the > 3 drives has about 200GB of data on it which would not be > easy to backup and get off the drive. > I'm pretty sure I've seen RAID cards that can do online expansion of their raid volumes. If you decide on one that can do this then get a fourth 250gig disk so you have a 3 disk RAID 5 set, copy all your data onto it then either keep the fourth drive as a spare or combine it into the volume :)
RE: [H] RAID questions
Well I am using a 6 drive array right now and for the past 6 months. I do have a Broadcom 1820a PCI-X available if you are interested, contact me off list. If you can wait 2-3 months they will be coming out with raid cards for the PCI-Express slot. My Supermicro board has 2 --- one for the video obviously but the second is currently free. Anyway I have talked to a few people that have played with some pre-production units based upon the PCI-Express slots and they tell me the throughput is unbelievable. In addition to the raid I picked up an Encore ENNHD-NT up to 250GB Network Storage Enclosure from NewEgg. It costs $98 and hooks right up to your network. I also use that to back up really critical stuff. What is nice though, I can use it to move data to any of the other 4 computers on the network - a super share drive if you will, in addition to the data redundancy of having the same files on multiple, independent drives. Best performance on a raid is to use identical drives - same manufacture, model, etc. Though not absolutely necessary, using different sizes would be silly because if you put a 100 gig with 3 250's, you would only the first 100 gig of the 3 larger drives and the rest would be totally unusable to the raid, or dos, or widows. Yes you will lose everything on the drives once you install them on a raid - it not only is a pia to find sufficient sizes to temporarily store everything too, but no matter how you play it, copying 250 gigs is going to take a whole lot of time - but look at it this way - you only have to do it twice, lol. Bob "-Original Message- "From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware- "[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden "Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 11:41 AM "To: hwg "Subject: [H] RAID questions " "Well after my latest HD failure I have decided it is best to pursue a "RAID solution. I have 3 250 GB SATA 150 drives that I would like to "start the array with and will probably be adding a couple more later. " "Right now the array will be going into a Athlon system with a nForce 2 "mobo but soon (< 6 months) I will be moving to a newer 64 bit system "with PCI-X slots. I would like to get a RAID card that supports both "the older 33/66 PCI standard and the new PCI-X. " "I will be booting the OS off a separate, single drive and using the "RAID array for dta storage and media playback. I don't really need a "hardcore, heavy duty server-quality RAID card but I am looking for "something pretty decent. " "1) Any recommendations out there for cards? I was looking at the "Highpoint RocketRaid ones and was fairly impressed. Any major "differences between Highpoint, 3Ware, and Promise? " "2) This array is going to be attached to a HTPC but I have not decided "on the OS I will be using. Anything out there that supports Wintel, "OSX, and Linux? Anyone know about RAID compatibilit with Knoppix or "Mythpc? " "3) Do I have to start with a set of blank drives? Right now 1 of the "3 drives has about 200GB of data on it which would not be easy to "backup and get off the drive. " "4) Do all the drives in the array have to be of the same size? " "-- "Brian
Re: [H] RAID questions
On Thu, 18 Aug 2005, Brian Weeden wrote: Well after my latest HD failure I have decided it is best to pursue a RAID solution. I have 3 250 GB SATA 150 drives that I would like to start the array with and will probably be adding a couple more later. Right now the array will be going into a Athlon system with a nForce 2 mobo but soon (< 6 months) I will be moving to a newer 64 bit system with PCI-X slots. I would like to get a RAID card that supports both the older 33/66 PCI standard and the new PCI-X. I will be booting the OS off a separate, single drive and using the RAID array for dta storage and media playback. I don't really need a hardcore, heavy duty server-quality RAID card but I am looking for something pretty decent. 1) Any recommendations out there for cards? I was looking at the Highpoint RocketRaid ones and was fairly impressed. Any major differences between Highpoint, 3Ware, and Promise? Make sure you get a true hardware raid as opposed to a software assisted raid. Quite a few SATA raid cards aren't true hardware raid. This of course depends on your preferance. http://linux.yyz.us/sata/faq-sata-raid.html A raid card I really like is in the Adaptec AAC-RAID family. it's true hardware raid, so you don't need to worry about using any extra CPU power. It's a couple hundred dollars tho. Christopher Fisk -- Fry: Leela, there's nothing wrong with anything.
Re: [H] RAID questions
1) Any recommendations out there for cards? I was looking at the Highpoint RocketRaid ones and was fairly impressed. Any major differences between Highpoint, 3Ware, and Promise? I would stay away from both 3ware and Promise. You might look at Broadcom adapters...they seem to have very good RAID5 write performance, and are at a good pricepoint. 2) This array is going to be attached to a HTPC but I have not decided on the OS I will be using. Anything out there that supports Wintel, OSX, and Linux? Anyone know about RAID compatibilit with Knoppix or Mythpc? 3) Do I have to start with a set of blank drives? Right now 1 of the 3 drives has about 200GB of data on it which would not be easy to backup and get off the drive. Yes, all drives will be wiped when you init the array. You'll need to get the data off first. 4) Do all the drives in the array have to be of the same size? No, but the array will be configured around the size of the smallest drive. IE: a RAID5 array of a 40, 120, and 300GB drive would only be 80GB usable (plus 40GB for parity). Greg
[H] RAID questions
Well after my latest HD failure I have decided it is best to pursue a RAID solution. I have 3 250 GB SATA 150 drives that I would like to start the array with and will probably be adding a couple more later. Right now the array will be going into a Athlon system with a nForce 2 mobo but soon (< 6 months) I will be moving to a newer 64 bit system with PCI-X slots. I would like to get a RAID card that supports both the older 33/66 PCI standard and the new PCI-X. I will be booting the OS off a separate, single drive and using the RAID array for dta storage and media playback. I don't really need a hardcore, heavy duty server-quality RAID card but I am looking for something pretty decent. 1) Any recommendations out there for cards? I was looking at the Highpoint RocketRaid ones and was fairly impressed. Any major differences between Highpoint, 3Ware, and Promise? 2) This array is going to be attached to a HTPC but I have not decided on the OS I will be using. Anything out there that supports Wintel, OSX, and Linux? Anyone know about RAID compatibilit with Knoppix or Mythpc? 3) Do I have to start with a set of blank drives? Right now 1 of the 3 drives has about 200GB of data on it which would not be easy to backup and get off the drive. 4) Do all the drives in the array have to be of the same size? -- Brian
[H] Raid Questions
Ok - most important - Have established a 4 drive array (raid5). The controller will let me add additional drives to the array. I have about 300G of data currently on the drive. So I plan to add 2 drives. Once windowsXP restarts will what will happen? -Will I have to re-initialize the drive (the array)? -Will I have to re-format the drive or will it inherit the drive mapping structure from the initial formatting? -- Any problems with the following options selected? -- Write Policy options: WriteThru or WriteBack. Have it set to WriteThru. Read Policy Options: Adaptive Read Ahead -or- Read Ahead -or- Normal Have it set to Adaptive Read Ahead Cache Policy Options: Caching I/O -or- Normal Have it set to Caching I/O If it matters no battery backup on the controller but the computer has an UPS. Cache on the controller - 128 meg Thanks
