RAID card question

[dunkindan]

I want to build a file storage system in windows xp. How does raid work and why have I heard good things about raid for storage systems? I'm looking for about 500gb of storage.

 

[engiNURD]

In short, RAID works by combining several drives to act as one. Common RAID levels are 1, 0, and 5. 1 is mirroring, so two sets of drives have the same data. 0 is striping, the data gets split between all the drives in the array. 5 is striping with parity, so if one drive dies, you can rebuild the data onto the replacement drive.

If you want more detail, google is your friend.

 

[Farva]

In short, 500GB drives are very cheap, I would recommend going that route than with several drives. With any type of RAID you go, you will need to format the drives and you will lose all your data (but I'm sure you already knew that).

If you want more detail, google is your friend.

I absolutely hate those types of responses. The reason people come to forums is to get answers that they cannot find.

 

[engiNURD]

I absolutely hate those types of responses. The reason people come to forums is to get answers that they cannot find.

I don't mind helping people with their research, but I don't want to do all of the research for them. He should do some of his own research first, then come here and ask questions if he has any. His questions were very broad/general and are easily answered with a simple google search. If the answers weren't so easy to find, then I'd lend a hand. In fact, I did give him a brief on RAID. I'm not going to sit here and write more detail thats easily found elsewhere.

 

[dunkindan]

do you think id be better off just using IDE cable to connect both the drives. Then imaging the drives for secure backup?

 

[engiNURD]

What is your goal for this storage system? Will it be a file server? media server? just a desktop?

IDE is old. Do you have the drives already? If not, get SATA.

 

[Farva]

do you think id be better off just using IDE cable to connect both the drives. Then imaging the drives for secure backup?

SATA is pretty close in price to IDE. Transfer rates are better for SATA than IDE too. Like enginurd said, IDE is old, but that does not matter (at least from what I can read on what you want dan).

Ninja edit: Personally, I would still go with a single disk. It is much cheaper than doing RAID.

 

[engiNURD]

RAID has its advantages:

RAID0: speed... fast avg transfer rates. downside is if one drive fails, you lose all the data.
RAID1: less downtime, data redundancy in case one drive fails. note: this is not a backup solution.
RAID5: fast read speeds, slightly slower write speeds, good for database servers, can recover data if a single drive fails

If you're just using the system as a standard desktop, then there's really no need for RAID.

I like to have multiple drives in a system, typically one for OS/Apps and another for storage. I keep a small OS partition on the strage drive that has an image of a fresh install. This helps with downtime should the main drive fail.

 

[Sniper|3d-R|]

I want to build a file storage system in windows xp. How does raid work and why have I heard good things about raid for storage systems? I'm looking for about 500gb of storage.

First, if you're going to build a file storage system I'd use Server 2003, not XP. If XP is all you can get, then thats all you can do.

Read this on raid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

For a file storage system... a 500gb system can be done with 1 drive. But when we are talking about RAID5, RAID0 we need more drives for parity and mirroring. Take a look at the above link, and see what type of raid would best suite your needs. If you have specific raid questions they may be answered at the same URL, otherwise come back and post. We will try out best to answer your question.

You can get a hardware raid or software raid. I'd recommend hardware raid as I assume anyone else here would as well. You can read up on this on the above url as well.

Hardware raid controllers will range from $20 bucks to a a few grand. For something as simple as a file storage server you can do well with a raid contoller that will fit in your budget. I use Intel controllers as that's what I have "access" too, but they are rather expensive.

Go with SATA!!!! Sata is by far the best bang for the buck right now. Two 500gb SATA drives in a RAID0 array would prolly be great for you.

Do a little research, and come back if you have additional questions.

 

[Farva]

First, if you're going to build a file storage system I'd use Server 2003, not XP. If XP is all you can get, then thats all you can do.

Read this on raid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

For a file storage system... a 500gb system can be done with 1 drive. But when we are talking about RAID5, RAID0 we need more drives for parity and mirroring. Take a look at the above link, and see what type of raid would best suite your needs. If you have specific raid questions they may be answered at the same URL, otherwise come back and post. We will try out best to answer your question.

You can get a hardware raid or software raid. I'd recommend hardware raid as I assume anyone else here would as well. You can read up on this on the above url as well.

Hardware raid controllers will range from $20 bucks to a a few grand. For something as simple as a file storage server you can do well with a raid contoller that will fit in your budget. I use Intel controllers as that's what I have "access" too, but they are rather expensive.

Go with SATA!!!! Sata is by far the best bang for the buck right now. Two 500gb SATA drives in a RAID0 array would prolly be great for you.

Do a little research, and come back if you have additional questions.

What (true) hardware controller starts at $20? I would get a few of those if they existed.

 

[unhappy_mage]

Two 500gb SATA drives in a RAID0 array would prolly be great for you.

I disagree. Raid 0 provides no data security, and when accessed over a network, no performance benefit. JBOD (aka concatenation) would at least allow for easy recovery.

OP, what's your backup strategy like? How important is this data?

 

[dunkindan]

It is strictly going to be a file storage system. It won't even be connected to the internet. It is for my dads business so the drives cannot fail. I already plan on imaging the computer though so all of my files will always be backed up properly. I just need to make sure to take all the proper steps to where if the drives fail, NO data will be lost.

 

[Trepidati0n]

It is strictly going to be a file storage system. It won't even be connected to the internet. It is for my dads business so the drives cannot fail. I already plan on imaging the computer though so all of my files will always be backed up properly. I just need to make sure to take all the proper steps to where if the drives fail, NO data will be lost.

You realized your Dad's business is still screwed of the server actually dies in a horrible way. You still need to externally backup the data and keep it offsite.

 

[engiNURD]

You realized your Dad's business is still screwed of the server actually dies in a horrible way. You still need to externally backup the data and keep it offsite.

QFT. Since its for a business and data retention is the goal, RAID0 is out of the question. RAID1 is pure redundancy but high overhead. RAID5 would be good because it can recreate the data in case one drive fails.

 

[hmz]

If you want speed, get a raptor instead of RAID 0. If you just want to build RAID array for no actual reason, just forget it.

 

[engiNURD]

If you want speed, get a raptor instead of RAID 0. If you just want to build RAID array for no actual reason, just forget it.

Actually, for speed, SAS drives would be better.

And he does have a reason...

It is strictly going to be a file storage system. It won't even be connected to the internet. It is for my dads business so the drives cannot fail. I already plan on imaging the computer though so all of my files will always be backed up properly. I just need to make sure to take all the proper steps to where if the drives fail, NO data will be lost.

 

[unhappy_mage]

It is strictly going to be a file storage system. It won't even be connected to the internet. It is for my dads business so the drives cannot fail. I already plan on imaging the computer though so all of my files will always be backed up properly. I just need to make sure to take all the proper steps to where if the drives fail, NO data will be lost.

I suggest two 500 or 750GB disks in raid 1, with a few external drives (some offsite - a safety deposit box, perhaps?) with backups on them. A yearly DVD-R copy wouldn't hurt, either. Tape is probably a little out of your budget range, if I had to guess.

Lastly, let me recommend taking this one to the pros. Talk to at least two vendors and find out what they'll cost. Listen to their arguments, and don't disregard them because of the cost. This may be a case of "buy it nice or buy it twice": if your data storage needs are likely to increase in the future, you need room for expansion, and building the machine yourself may not be as flexible. Also, in terms of support options, Dell or HP isn't going anywhere, but you might be moving, getting another job, getting married, or hit by a bus. Having a support contract with a vendor is something that's worthwhile for a business.

 

[Sniper|3d-R|]

What (true) hardware controller starts at $20? I would get a few of those if they existed.

Was thinking of like used cards thrru craigstlist or something... Goood point tho, and a clarification "Good" Raid cards are not usually cheap.