Home NAS - Raid,5

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Terr1

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May 24, 2010
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I'm currently running a private fileserver (video files, my DVD/BD Collection digitalized on HDD) on linux (debian) using a mix of IDE/SATA II drives and LVM2 for one logical drive (5 TB).

I'm running out of space and want a major upgrade of my system, and a tad more security in terms of backup solutions. Currently if one drive dies, I loose all data on that drive.

So I was thinking about hardware RAID,5 as a good solution..

My question is which RAID-5 hardware controller card should I get? I need min 8 ports max 12 ports. SATA II.

I am thinking of buying either WD 2TB WD2003FYYS (RE4) or WD 2TB WD2002FYPS (RE4-GP).

Adaptec a good choice?

I have been looking on the following cards, and have no idea which I should choose in value for the money?

Adaptec RAID 31205 - Pro: 12 ports so might be a tad more future proof.. 830$

Adaptec RAID 3805 - 8 port, 128MB 610$, 256MB: 795$

Adaptec RAID 2820SA - 8 port, 450$

Adaptec RAID 5805 - 8 port, 645$

(Price is listed from my country in USD)..
 
The 5805 is superior to the 3805, and from your list cheaper. I would therefore strike the 3805 from your list. PCI-X is probably not a good investment.

Basically, it comes down to faster 5805 v. more ports on the 31205. If you do not need the extra ports, the 5805 is the obvious choice at $185 less.
 
I would decide on the Operating System first. Is this going to be a Windows Home Server build? Did you consider something like FreeNAS? The advantage here is that you do not need an (expensive) hardware controller to do RAID5 or RAID6 properly. You can use any onboard SATA port or cheap PCI-express 'dumb controllers' or a SuperMicro Mini-SAS with 8x SATA controller for about $115.

I assume you will be using this without a 'real' backup, right? In that case, snapshots might add more protection to your data by enabling you do rollback to points in the past. If any of that appeals to you, i'll discuss it further. If you prefer the Windows-environment and want to use Hardware RAID5+Windows then all that won't matter to you, of course.
 
Slightly off topic, but I'm curious why most people seem to have Areca and Adaptec raid cards over LSI ones. Any comments?
 
Its going to run linux debian and samba, as my current LVM2 system does.

I was thinking of using mdadm and software raid,5.. Not sure how good this works.. (in this case i need as mentioned only the non-raid 115$ sata controller)..

As for file system I've always been running EXT3 (now EXT4), Dont really know ZFS that well?
 
dexvx said:
Slightly off topic, but I'm curious why most people seem to have Areca and Adaptec raid cards over LSI ones. Any comments?
Click to expand...

isnt LSI these days making the cards / chips and companies like Adaptec / Dell then using them?
 
I'd just use Linux and mdadm. You can add HDD's as needed later on as well. And, as for the file system, I'd use XFS. You can grow it without any issues when you add a drive, and it works better for larger files(video's).
And, the nice thing of mdadm, you can put webmin on your system, and do it via a web interface.
 
dexvx said:
Slightly off topic, but I'm curious why most people seem to have Areca and Adaptec raid cards over LSI ones. Any comments?
Click to expand...

LSI's are actually quite popular - when you see someone running a Dell PERC, that's an LSI. PERC's are significantly cheaper than LSI-branded cards. I have PERCs in my Dell PowerEdges. They're rock solid and fast enough.

Areca is a popular enthusiast brand and took that away from 3ware. At one point, they held the speed crown. Many of their cards have out-of-band management, which is unique feature to them.

I don't see Adaptecs as been more popular than the LSI/PERCs, but I could be wrong.
 
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