Question about RAID 5 sx4000

[Private Citizen]

I have a Promise Fastrack SX4000 w/256MB DIMM with four 40gig Smansung Spinpoint slim drives with FDB and 3 year warranty in my network fileserver/PDC/DNS/AD/AntiVirus Server/WinUpdate Server(SUS). I have four more of these Samsung drives in the closet ready to go incase any of the drives fail.

Anyway I was wondering something that I haven't heard asked before. I know you can replace a dead drive in a RAID 5 setup and not loose anything but what if my SX4000 dies?

If for some reason the SX4000 dies can I use any brand make RAID card in it's place without loosing anything? In other words, if the SX4000 dies and I buy a new RAID card, put it into the system, then boot up will the new RAID card recognise the read to go array and simply pickup where I left off?

Thanks in advance fellas.

 

[SKiTLz]

I think the answer is no. You should be able to replace the card with another SX4000 but I'd imagine different cards would have a different way of setting the array... So it wouldnt work.

 

[Snugglebear]

RAID is not a backup solution.

 

[Morpheus256]

if u were to replace it with another sx4000 ud be fine, but say u get a highpoint, 3ware, etc, ur SOL

 

[Private Citizen]

Originally posted by Snugglebear
RAID is not a backup solution.

No one said it was. I backup my file server to a 20gig Seagate Travan 20 gig and 40gig Linux ran Samaba share.

 

[Private Citizen]

Originally posted by SKiTLz
I think the answer is no. You should be able to replace the card with another SX4000 but I'd imagine different cards would have a different way of setting the array... So it wouldnt work.

I was afraid of that. Hmmm......so does anyone here invest in two RAID cards for this very reason. Having a couple of spare harddrives and a spare RAID card....just in case?

 

[SKiTLz]

Originally posted by Private Citizen
I was afraid of that. Hmmm......so does anyone here invest in two RAID cards for this very reason. Having a couple of spare harddrives and a spare RAID card....just in case?

Well i guess if your data is that important then that wouldn't be a bad idea. Personally I don't have years of experience with raid so I don't have much of a track record for raid controller reliability.

I'd imagine it'd probably be a pretty rair ocurence for your card to go though (I would hope)

 

[Ice Czar]

generally you would simply buy a new card when needed
if its critical online data, a spare might be a good idea, but typically alot of the events that would kill the card (after the initial breakin) would also kill the mobo

what is important however is for you to write down the array parameters, and number your HDDs so that any swap would place the same drives on the same channels



http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=94&category=manual&os=0

from the Manual

Page 28
" Promise suggests that you record information about your disk array(s) for future reference

All disk array data is saved within the reserved sector of each arrayed drive.
Anther feature of the FastTrak disk array system is to recognize the drive members even if drives are moved to different channels on the FastTrak Controller Card. Since each drive's array data identifies itself tio the array, it is possible to reorder the drives without modifying the array setup. This is valuable when adding drives, or during a rebuild.

page 45
Resrerved Sector
Array configuration data about the drive member and other members in the disk array are saved on a special location on the disk drives called the reserved sector. If any member of the array becomes corrupt or lost, the redundant configuration data on the other members can be used for rebuilds.

Disk array members do not have a memory of their drive positions. This allows drives to be placed on different TastTark connectors or cards within the system without reconfiguring or rebuilding."

while that is all well and good in theory, and may actually work now, it didnt when I first bought my SX6000, and I lost my array migrating form one mobo to another (failing to keep track of which drive was on which channel)

do you have any idea how many combinations of six drives to six channels are possible?
720
needless to say, I lost the array