To Raid or Not to Raid that is the question

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Bohica69

Gawd
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Jul 12, 2005
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So, I just purchased the Dell SC440 for $199 in the Hot Deals section, and am considering using it as a storage server for my DVD collection. I have a Windows Server 2003 license I'm going to use.

So the question I have is this - should I do Raid or shouldn't I? It appears I can fit 5 drives in the box if I am willing to give up the optical drive (I am). So my plan is this:
Install the OS on a PATA drive (there are only 4 sata ports in the machine). Use the 4 SATA ports for 4 large sata drives.

Right now I'm considering using the Western Digital Caviar GP WD7500AACS 750GB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM LINK

If I use Raid5 then I'll have 2tb of useable space - if I just juse a JBOD setup, I'll have 3TB, but no data security, other than backups (and the physical media), or as another alternative, I can just use them as 4 individual drives... bit more of a pain, but it limits the damage if one drive fails.

Of course if I do the individual drives, I can just add a new drive as I see fit (and reap the benefits of falling drive prices as a result)

The system won't see a lot of traffic - like I said this is for my home and there's only one or two users on at a time (at MOST)

So is it worth it to do Raid 5 in this case? I've almost talked myself out of it.... :confused:

Your thoughts please.
 
I would say either JBOD or individual. I use individual drives and make regular Ghosts of each drive. RAID 5 is not a backup option and costs precious disk space. If all the disks are not of equal size then RAID goes with the smallest drive. When disks get bigger and cheaper in the future it will be smoother transition with JBOD or individual.
 
I know Raid is not a backup solution - All the drives will be equal size - I'm just wondering if in my case the increased throughput is worth the extra size.. Down time isn't really a huge factor in this case.

Thanks for your input.
 
I would say get as much space as you can out of the drives. My individual drives perform just great as far as moving files and streaming them to my HTPC.

Also, MaximumPC did a review on the 5400 -> 7200 and found that you only save ~$6 per year and you take a significant performance hit over a comparable Seagate. Just my opinion from what I read about these.
 
Yea, that's becoming my thought - Any opinions of doing a JBOD under Windows Server 2003? Does it store the files on individual disks, but just make it appear as if it's one bigger disk? Or is it possible that a file could be part on one disk and part on another? I haven't been able to find any documentation on it.

Thanks.
 
I'd raid just to prevent downtime, unless that is not a major issue. It doesn't seem like it would be in your usage. Otherwise, go with JBOD
 
Too funny, yet another thing I've been strongly considering(WHS). One issue is that I also have a license for VS2005 and as a result the SQL Server Desktop(or whatever it's called this week)... I've been also toying with using that to setup a small DNN site and run dynamic DNS to the box - so I can share pics with Family and Friends... Can SQL server run on WHS? A quick Google search reveals it should be possible.

I'll take a look at your thread, thanks for the input.
 
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