Raid Suggestions

[board2death986]

Alright well currently my file server is about 2.5 TB large consisting of 5 sata drives and 3 ide drives in a cramped P180. It started as my game rig but drive after drive it got bloated.

Anyway I was planning on upgrading it by ridding it of anything IDE, and perhaps trying out a raid configuration. My idea was to buy 750GB drives to replace my current drives, and put them all in a raid 5 config. 8 750GB drives in raid 5, using an online calculator gives me about 4.9 TB, so i would lose about 1.1 TB. My question is if its reliable to put 8 drives in a raid 5, or i could split it up, since i just picked up a Rocketraid 2300 (4 port) for cheap, i could get another and create two separate Raid 5 configs.

So really I know little about raid, but raid 5 seemed the safest choice letting you recover the raid if one drive fails. Of course in that situation I wouldn't continually run the raid until a replacement came in, or I would have a replacement on hand.

So i'm just looking for advice on what the best choice would be, or generally the best options I have.

[spectrumbx]

What are you storing?

If it is mostly archive data (movies, music, etc.), i.e., data that you rarely edit or delete (but that you add to [frequently or rarely for that does not matter]) wait about 2 weeks. Something really interesting is coming. ;)

My lips are sealed. :)

Otherwise, yes, 8 drives in RAID 5 is safe.
The probability of two drives dying close enough (like same day) for you to lose your RAID is extremely slim.

[ashmedai]

The probability of two drives dying close enough (like same day) for you to lose your RAID is extremely slim.

Well, the probability of the hard drive imploding and taking 2+ drives with it isn't that far-fetched. The odds also go way up the more drives you have. Neither is something causing data corruption. RAID is not a backup solution. It will help if a drive dies, but only if the problem is because a drive dies.

[unhappy_mage]

What are you storing?

If it is mostly archive data (movies, music, etc.), i.e., data that you rarely edit or delete (but that you add to [frequently or rarely for that does not matter]) wait about 2 weeks. Something really interesting is coming. ;)
I anxiously await. A new type of media? A new filesystem? Inquiring minds want to know.

[board2death986]

What are you storing?

If it is mostly archive data (movies, music, etc.), i.e., data that you rarely edit or delete (but that you add to [frequently or rarely for that does not matter]) wait about 2 weeks. Something really interesting is coming. ;)

My lips are sealed. :)

Otherwise, yes, 8 drives in RAID 5 is safe.
The probability of two drives dying close enough (like same day) for you to lose your RAID is extremely slim.

well i wouldn't have the money for this for quite some time, but sounds interesting :cool:

*edit* yea that's pretty much it, game backups, dvd archives, music, etc etc.