Raid 5 + backup

[Outlaw85]

I'm still looking into options. Nothing extra purchased or really explored yet.

I've only played with Raid 0 for my game server. Seems to work pretty well. I am now looking into some protection for media files (movies, pictures...etc).

Current setup (File server and Game server)-
Q9450
8GB DDR2
2x500GB HDD Raid 0 OS and Game server install
2x2TB (no raid, jbod...etc, just 2 standalone drives) 1 for movies/tv; 1 for apps, games and pictures
---External---
1x2TB mostly copy of movies/tv (not synced)
1x750GB copy of picturers and most apps/games
1x500GB (2.5") used mostly for travel to throw portable games or movies on.

Plan-
Separate File and Game server.
Game server would go to a 1u chassis that's pending CPU's. This would also get the 2x500GB HDD for Raid 0
File server would either stay on the Q9450 setup or move to a dual or tri core amd with 4GB DDR2- pending motherboard raid support.

What I am stuck on is-
With the 3x 2TB's, I was considering raid 5 (Software) for an effective drive of 4TB but with all media, I'm around 3-3.5TB. I've had the setup for a while and so I don't need tons (4x6TB) of storage but don't want to cut myself short either and have to add more in the next year. Along with the 3x2TB in raid 5, I was debating on getting an external setup or just getting an internal 4TB drive to mirror/sync with the array. Being over paranoid, I would looking at getting another set of 2TB's to mirror the raid 5. This is not at all cost effective though and would require more space and power for minimal gains on file recovery/security.

I was thinking of adding a 4th 2TB to the current 3 to make a 6TB array but then not sure if I should look for 2x3TB, 3x2TB, 1x4TB/1x2TB...etc.

Without any kind of sales/deals. The WD greens are 2TB $80, 3TB $100, 4TB $140 at the egg. I would look for better deals once sizes are figured out. Also, for the OS, I am using Windows mostly due to time I have to spend on it. I'm not opposed to anything else provided it has a quick/easy learning curve.


I can get 4x1TB's from a co-worker for cheap (assuming) plus I have a spare 1TB I can use.. but this would take a lot of space up.


What would you do? Any input is greatly appreciated.
Outlaw


*update*
Or scrap the Raid 5, 3 drive Stripe (6TB) + (6TB)backup - This would only cost approx. $200 for the 2x3TB drives used for backup.
4 drive raid 5 (6TB) + backup- This would cost approx. $280

 

[stormy1]

what would I do?
2 4tb drives no raid.
or 2x2tb and a 4tb no raid
And most important:
2 4tb or 2x 6tb external drive for backup.

 

[qkslvr221]

Rather than backing up everything cart blanche, why not spend the money on a controller that can handle RAID 6, and use a smaller drive or encrypted offsite backup for the important stuff?

This would be a lot safer than RAID 0/5, and the 5TB seagate external drives are around 120 bucks on Amazon right now. I would grab those and pull the drives out of the enclosure.

EDIT: I almost forgot, some Intel chipsets also support RAID 10. Depending on what chipset you own, this would be nearly as safe as 6 without having to buy any controller.

 

[Outlaw85]

what would I do?
2 4tb drives no raid.
or 2x2tb and a 4tb no raid
And most important:
2 4tb or 2x 6tb external drive for backup.

Thanks for the reply.
Sorry, should have been more specific. While keeping costs low/ish and using existing drives. What would you do?

Rather than backing up everything cart blanche, why not spend the money on a controller that can handle RAID 6, and use a smaller drive or encrypted offsite backup for the important stuff?

This would be a lot safer than RAID 0/5, and the 5TB seagate external drives are around 120 bucks on Amazon right now. I would grab those and pull the drives out of the enclosure.

EDIT: I almost forgot, some Intel chipsets also support RAID 10. Depending on what chipset you own, this would be nearly as safe as 6 without having to buy any controller.

Thanks for the reply.
Looking at the cost of a Raid 6 card. I think that is going to be out at this point. I would have to buy the card and still need another 2TB to have minimum drive count for a raid 6.

Mixing what you and stormy1 said. Run the Raid 10 with 4x 2TB (unless I can find a great deal and buy 3 for 6tb array). Then use the 5TB external as the backup. Otherwise I would just need to buy 1 2TB and 1 5TB. But with the deal, 2x 5TB is only about $40 more. I could just throw the 2TBs together or do important backups like you said on one of them (still have USB3-2tb and USB2-750gb in enclosure).

If im going to combine more than one drive. I might as well use the software raid to get a little performance (0 or 10). Which I did check last night. Per Intels sight, my board does support 10.

Thanks again.
Outlaw

 

[Aesma]

Fileserver => ZFS => no need for a RAID card.

 

[Outlaw85]

Got some reading to do for that. But definitely worth looking into for getting into Linux.

Thanks

 

[Bigdady92]

File Server: Install UnRAID, let it handle all your drives for you in a RAID 6. Even with mismatch drives you'll still do ok. It'll handle all your files as backup easily enough.


GameServer: RAID 0 is a stupid idea no matter what you do unless you do RAID 10. This requires double the amount of drives but increases your security for drive failure.

RAID 0/10 is really only necessary if you are expecting to pull in MASSIVE IOPS. What will run on the game server? 1000+ team speak connections? LAN gaming over gigabit with 1000+ players? Unless you are expecting ridiculous amounts of people you can run the systems just fine with RAID 1.

 

[Outlaw85]

Fileserver (not backups)- Thanks. Got some more reading to do. Just for consistency and some slight ocd, I would like to keep them all the same size.
Fileserver (backups)- I would be fine with using 1 large drive or would mixing and matching sizes be better for main file store?

GameServer- The Raid 0 was mostly just to play with raid and higher xfer speeds doing file transfers. Outside of local OS install, it sits in the basement with only power and NICs (3xGbit).
-It has made it to 1 small LAN used for CS:GO tourney, pubs and TF2 pub - but never more than 40 people connected at the same time. At my house it was running- 4xCSGO, 2xL4D2, 2x1.6 (never maxed). When it gets moved to the 1U, I'll switch it to Raid 1 for the redundancy. At this time, it's planned to be used at the LAN again. Last year one of the other servers had CPU fan failure and mine was used. Still no issues while tourney ran.

Thanks again,
Outlaw