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Raid array system advice (1tb+ needed)

S

shrink

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 28, 2000
Messages
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the lab im in (marcuslab.harvard.edu) is interested in getting a backup system for about 30 computers in our setup

the total storage needed is about 35gb x 30 computers = ~1 terrabyte

so far we are using 20 gb tape backups which as you can imagine is slow and getting absolete. this means getting 10 200gb hard drives for a mirrored setup, meaning we are going to need a 500+Watt power supply and some way to store the hard drives in the computer case

i want to get a large mirrored raid array by getting hard drivers with atleast 5 years warranty (e.g. seagates).

the problem is that we already have a spare computer to use as a backup system, so we are going to need some way to store all of those hard drives! the pc is a dell so the motherboard probably wont fit into an oem case...

any ideas?
 
Whats the budget? And how important is the data? These question will greatly change the potential solutions.
 
1st use a SATA 3ware card.
2nd use SATA drives.

3rd there are 400GB Hitachi drives and 300GB Maxtor drives, but these are 3 year warrantee drives.

As for using a dell.. most older dells used a propritary power supply, it had the same connector as ATX but a different pinout, so if you use a standard PSU in one of those you let the magic smoke out of everything. (dead comptuer)

The cost of a new system (MB PSU) will be small in comparison to all those drives, it need not be a top of the line system, just a big case is your only real need.

==>lazn
 
backuppc
i looked at this for a similar thing. it might not take 1tb to do this. you could just raid1 a pair of 400gb's and that might be enough. it's probably mostly the same stuff on every machine (winxp, apps, etc.), and this takes advantage of that.
 
Lazn_Work said:
1st use a SATA 3ware card.
2nd use SATA drives.
Click to expand...
I agree, if you're going IDE, go 3Ware if it's important.
As for using a dell.. most older dells used a propritary power supply, it had the same connector as ATX but a different pinout, so if you use a standard PSU in one of those you let the magic smoke out of everything. (dead comptuer)
Click to expand...
I've swapped out PSU's and cases on PowerEdge 600SC's. They are newer lowend servers that where completely ATX compliant (gasp!)

[edit]
Here's an old thread of mine from when we build our disk-to-disk-to-tape backup server:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?threadid=45761
The machine has been up for about 10 months now. Had a small issue with the initial drive cages i chose, but cleared that up and it's been smooth sailing since.
If i where to rebuild it today, i'd do the same thing but choose the 9500S-8 from 3Ware as the SATA RAID controller + faster disks.
(pictures no longer work :( )
 
ambit said:
I agree, if you're going IDE, go 3Ware if it's important.

I've swapped out PSU's and cases on PowerEdge 600SC's. They are newer lowend servers that where completely ATX compliant (gasp!)

[edit]
Here's an old thread of mine from when we build our disk-to-disk-to-tape backup server:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?threadid=45761
The machine has been up for about 10 months now. Had a small issue with the initial drive cages i chose, but cleared that up and it's been smooth sailing since.
If i where to rebuild it today, i'd do the same thing but choose the 9500S-8 from 3Ware as the SATA RAID controller + faster disks.
(pictures no longer work :( )
Click to expand...

I know newer Dells are totally ATX compliant, but he said they already have an old Dell that he plans to use for this..

==>lazn
 
How important is this data? if its not mission critical 200 +GB SATA drives would do just fine. If it is mission critical then i would do this differently

As the size of the drive goes up and the less drives you use it becomes more difficlut and takes much longer to recreate data than if you use say Scsi 74 GB drives on a raid 5 setup. Get yourself a rackmount raid box and just run a scsi cable to the backup pc. I would still offload to tape for mission critical for 2 fallbacks.

You could also invest in a SAN solution
 
AFAIK Raid 1 (mirror) is no more secure/failsafe then R5, and R5 is a hell of a lot less demanding of # of drives for high capacity. As you only lose 1 drive to parity and not 1/2 your drives to mirror.

Id say a 200-400GB drives SATA R5 solution...with a dedicated machine to run it and a primary drive for OS...

Just going from 2 120s R1 to 3 120s R5 is going to be a pain having to store all my shit seperately...Im thinking I might have to do it at home as I can store about 25 GB on my raptor and the rest on my parents 80GB (using maybe 7...).

You dont want to have to change the array once its up...(point of the above paragraph)
 
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