Expanded storage Question

[jtetterton]

I'm building a computer to be used as a DVR for a 16 channel camera system. I would like to install 2 terabytes of storage utilizing 4 500gig SATA 3gb/s drives. I don't have any experience with multiple drives other than my personal pc and using drive c, d, e, etc. How easy is it to tie these 4 drives together to act as one? This is known as a RAID array right?

Can someone please dumb it down for me to help me understand? The computer will be running XP PRO.

Thanks!

Jason

 

[axan]

there are many ways to do it, jbod (not really raid) raid0, or if you want 5th drive you could use raid 5. It would all depend if you want any redundancy (raid 5) or if you don't care about data loss. As for setup windows has software raid option and virtually any modern mobo has onboard raid option

 

[jtetterton]

Redundancy isn't neccesary. Here is what I have spec'd so far for the MOBO.

ABIT IN9 32X-MAX LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127020

 

[axan]

why you going with sli mobo? do you have a need for sli graphic setup? intel p35 or x38 chipset mobs are a lot more stable then nvidia mobos. As far it the mobo being to able to do raid 0 or jbod it can. You can read up more about jbod and raid here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#Concatenation_.28JBOD_or_SPAN.29

 

[jtetterton]

I just picked a board out, can you recommend one on newegg that can take the same chipset at the same price that is better?

I really have no preference toward any manufacturer. I'm going to place my order in about 30 minutes.

Jason

 

[xenotype]

That motherboard will work fine for your needs. RAID 0 will put all your disks together as one, as will JBOD, there is little difference to the effect those give. The mobo also supports RAID 5 which will do the same thing, but sacrifice one drive for parity information, resulting in a slightly smaller partition size, but its tolerant to faults, ie: redundant.

 

[jtetterton]

Guys, thanks for all the help.. I placed the order just now, can't wait to get this thing together and start playing with it.

Jason

 

[axan]

like i said that mobo will work, but nvidia chipset mobos are not exactly known for their stellar stability. A p35 mobo is a much better choice. Something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127029 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131196 will do the job nicely and it's virtually same price.

 

[Old Hippie]

like i said that mobo will work, but nvidia chipset mobos are not exactly known for their stellar stability. A p35 mobo is a much better choice.

Woops!