Setting up raid for file server

[Korialstrasza]

Just wondering how to set this up the way I want. My friend gave me an LSI MegaRaid i4 controller and I have 4x120gb seagate hard drives. This will serve as a file server. Which level would be best? Raid 0, 1, or 5? Would I create 2 arrays, with 2 HDDs in each? Or one array with all 4 hard drives in it?

thanks

 

[DougLite]

For a home file server, capacity is generally most important. RAID-5 with all 4 drives will allow you to achieve 360GB of capacity while keeping the array fault tolerant and allow you to hot swap drives and rebuild after a failure without powering down the system. If you require high write performance, you'll want to look at one of the hybrid levels (10 or 0+1) but that will only get you 240GB out of the same four drives.

 

[Korialstrasza]

I setup the array, all four drives in a single array with RAID 5. However, now when i go to install Winxp or Fedora, it's unable to find any hard drives. What's the deal with that?

 

[DougLite]

For Windows XP, you need to provide an F6 disk or slipstream the controller drivers onto the CD. For Fedora, you will need to consult a Linux guru, although expect a similar requirement with a driver for it built in or use the generic ataraid subsystem.