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Ultimate Storage Subsystem (2.95 Tb)

N

nytrackstar

Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
651
Please critique my storage subsystem setup i'll be using for my upcoming build:

I Know the pictures looks familiar, Credit for the layout goes to Sack (great design!!)
RAIDCONFIG1111.jpg




I will be using this controller card: PROMISE SuperTrak EX8300 PCI-X SATA-II RAID Controller

Note: All critical data will be backed up to DVD's as well.
 
lol don't you love when people start threads just to show off their ridiculously expensive and amazing computers :p

anyway, that storage subsustem in particular is pretty amazing. Some might argue it's a bit overkill, but if you've got the cash and the data is that important to you then I guess there's no such thing as too safe.

My critiques:
I personally say ditch the Raid 0 for the system drives...the arguements about whether raid 0 is worth it will rage on forever and you'll always find people to argue either way...but I personally think it's kinda pointless since it typically shows very little real-world performance benefits. IMHO that raptor could be used for something better. But it's personal preference.

Also, it's another tiny moot point but I would personally put the pagefile on your drive E: since it's going to be sitting idle most of the time anyway, and it might give better overall performance than having it shared on the raptor(s) with the program files. Maybe the raw speed of the raptors make up for it, though. Something to think about at least.

Anyway, killer rig dude :cool:

Edit: Oh, and why have separate D: and E: drives? Why not just get two matched drives and RAID 1 them? It would cut down on the amount of manual work you have to do backing up data.
 
Critical data backed up? how often, would be better to have at least one either RAID 1 or RAID 5 array to store critical data live, so that work in between backups hard disk failure does not effect too much
 
^ yeah I kinda imagine it looking somewhat like this:

RAIDCONFIG1.jpg


Your setup is okay too...it's mainly the D: and E: drive thing that worries me, that you might lose data between backups. A raid 1 would make it seamless.
 
said it before, say it again, giant raid-0 atw

you'll be fudging around with all the different raid volumes and you'll come to the conclusion perhaps like i did that one giant drive is far easier to operate, less stress. as long as you have hard copy backups of your sw and such you should be fine. just dvd burn your imp docs and fly away with the raid-0 speed. btw i'm using a slightly different setup than most on here for raid-0 so their previous comments might not have consiered i'm using 64 bit pci x slots and span the array over two controllers (it makes a big diff to have two). pretty sure most pci x slots are 32 bit i really love the raid-0. as other have noted you double, tripple, or quadruple etc your chances of raid failure with each added disk. zero waste, high speed and risk = my type of system. if you want go one gaint raid 0 volume. if not try thinking about a single raid-5 volume. i think you will like the single disk compared to many separate volumes. i've had raid-1 arrays, raid-0 arrays, single disks mixed with raid-0 and raid-1. just gets too confusing remembering where you put what file. i think at the highest point i had 7 separate volumes about 1.5-1.8 TB all together. now I have a raid-0 over 4 wd2500ks drives for a cool ~ 1 TB. not even full and i use my 128 mb flash drive for all the stuff i cant afford to loose. if you need more backup space consider a dvd burner perhaps.
 
Either raid1 the OS raptors, run 'em as two separate drives, or just use 1 raptor. Also, I would just make a bigger raid5 array to store all the stuff you'd be putting on the 2x400GB Raid-1, and just do backups, or get an additional drive to backup stuff like work, photos and such and store offline.
 
Get the Areca over the promise, you'll get better performance, though it'll cost a little more, you'll appreciate it in the long run.
 
I appreciate all the responses guys.

now to address some things that were brought up...

...as far as my OS drive i'm not 100% set on a RAID-0, if i can feel any performance difference between that and a raid-1 setup i'll keep it, if not the raptors will be in raid-1.

...i agree about having raid-1 on the main storage drive, i placed an order for a 2nd 400giger...

...the reasoning behind me having so many different volumes is because i like to stay organized, and i guess ive just developed a personal preference to this type of organization

...as far as the last "lonely" 750 giger for now it will serve as a drive to hold the weekly disc image backup from the OS drive (if i decide on raid-0). if i decide to use raid-1 for the OS drives ill either add it to the raid-5 array or keep it as a hot swappable spare drive if one of the drives on the array go bad. i'll decide this when i put the machine together in a week or so...

...I'd love to go for the areca but i've stretched this budget as far as itll go, i dont think its worth the extra ~$170 to upgrade to the areca, considering both the supertrak and areca use the same onboard processor


So heres the layout as of now...
RAIDCONFIG111122.jpg
 
the system itself, excluding the harddrives will run me approximately $3900, i have a good deal more than this saved up from working both semesters and saving from summer jobs over the years... my dad's company is a worldwide seagate distributor (www.cti-intl.com) , so getting a few drives here and there to "run some tests" on is pretty easy ;). They never make us send them back so it works out nicely.

...the two raptors were my birthday gift from my grandparents(yes i told them what i wanted, they have no idea what raptors are, lol)
 
Damn, monster system. There are a lot of fun social things you can do with $4k though. I hope you remember that spending your life inside staring at an LCD won't lead to fulfillment and putting away $3k this early in your life would mean that you'll have lots of money when you're old and can't enjoy things like sports, girls, partying, etc.

All that being said, you're putting a ton of stuff in one case. Are you worried about noise at all? If so, why not build a data server to put all those drives in, link it with gigabit ethernet and just run one raptor in your main machine. Also, why are you making a RAID-1 and a RAID-5. A bigger RAID-5 would make more sense. If you have any 300Gb drives that need evaluation please feel free to send em my way. :D
 
believe me i know where your coming from, im not the type to waste a beautiful day staying inside and staring at an LCD, im on an intramural basketball team, have a beautiful girlfriend, compete in many small motocross races (my other habit)

...however computers are a hobby of mine as well, i enjoy building and designing my systems more than i enjoy using them...i know that 3k can do many things in a social aspect, dont think im blowing my entire savings on this, i do my own accounting and its not as big a hit as i thought it would, i have a paying internship at morgan stanley this summer as well as a small business i run here at school.

...in regards to noise, the grahics cards and proc will be watercooled, as far as placing the hd's in a different box, not practical as i will most likely still be living in a dorm next semester...i dont have as much space as ied like...maybe next year ill build a cheap-o NAS setup and throw the drives in there.

...thanks for the feedback!
 
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