WD20EARS and RocketRAID 2320?

[silkshadow]

I am stuck with a bunch of WD20ears . I was waiting for Aurora (need AD) to use these in a drive extender setup as my areca and promise raid cards refused to work reliably with them. Now that MS has pulled drive extender, I have to look for other options.

I was thinking of getting a couple RocketRAID 2320s as this is a softraid card and maybe wouldn't have the problems the hardware raid cards had? I also expect no performance from them, and so spending a ton on faster cards that might work seems a waste.

So anyone try and use a RocketRAID 2320 with WD20EARS? Does it work?

I am also open to other options. Flexraid looks nice but I have 2 problems, the contents of the raid array will change every couple of hours and I really want to have the OS see these drives as big storage drives. I am focused on the RocketRAID 2320s because I can make 2 x4 slots open. Any x8 cards will require me to buy a PCI video card. Not a deal breaker but if I can avoid it it would be better.

Thanks!

 

[sub.mesa]

For hardware RAID you need TLER-capable disks to prevent them being dropped out whenever they encounter a bad or weak sector. EARS disks are also 4K sector, which is another issue.

Not reading what your OS would be, but i hope you have a really good backup since using non-TLER disks on hardware RAID controllers can be dangerous; you think you're protected but when a disk fails and you initiate a rebuild, the BER issue can totally screw up your rebuild and leave you with a failed and non-accessible array.

Only use such a setup if you have a full backup on another server you can activate quickly to restore the backup to your primarily NAS.

 

[silkshadow]

Sorry , the OS would be Win 2k8R2, the 2nd W2k8R2 machine on the network. This is a home environment but one that uses Exchange and remote access.

Thanks for the reply!

I am aware of the WD20EARS issues, which is why I put a "" next to the word "stuck" in my post . These drives suck, bottom line. I understand and totally get it. I am not going to be putting anything I don't have a backup of but I also don't want to be having to restore from tape every few days or even every month. A couple times a year, though, is acceptable.

Anyway, that's not really my question. I have them, a lot of them, and I need to do something with them. As I said, I was going to use drive extender with them, but that's not an option anymore and, as I said, I have tried these drives with both the older promise and areca cards I have and they wouldn't work. After a few days, format would be lost or the array wouldn't build.

So I am thinking of going with this cheap highpoint card, thinking software raid might work with them. Does it?

Alternatively, I am open to any suggestions of what I can use to make these drives work in my setup.

Thanks!

 

[sub.mesa]

RocketRAID is a RAID controller; not a SATA controller or "HBA".

If you want to use normal consumer desktop drives in RAID, without them dropping from the array on every fart the drive gives, then you need non-Windows software RAID on a real HBA controller and no RAID controller; there is no other way around it.

Sure you can make 8 arrays on the Highpoint, one array for each disk. Still would have the same problems; the disks disappear because the controller actively detaches that disk if it doesn't respond with expected data within 10 seconds. No slacking is allowed; either your drives have to work 100% fine, or they get kicked from the array. This is not desirable behavior for most home environments.

You can consider the use of a NAS with non-Windows OS and software RAID; solves all issues. But as you say you use proprietary applications and as such a normal NAS may not offer the desired functionality? Windows also actively refuses to use networked disks for common tasks, including some in exchange i believe. To circumvent these restrictions you have to use iSCSI SAN protocols. Life just get's more complicated walking this route, and i have no clear advice for you on how to proceed.

But disks dropping from RAID happens on all Windows onboard RAIDs and Hardware RAID as far as i know, without disks that guarantee they never spend more time on recovery than < 10 seconds, aka TLER/CCTL/ERC.

 

[Dangman]

So anyone try and use a RocketRAID 2320 with WD20EARS? Does it work?

A google search yielded only one person actually doing that exact setup:
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showpost.php?p=12290521&postcount=5

However do note that post does not mention how long he's had the RAID array up, what he did for "adjusting the headparking", etc. That user has since been banned or deleted from that forum so it may be hard tracking him down and asking what he did exactly and whether or not that RAID array continues to function.

Other options off the top of my head:
- FlexRAID live which is due out in late December
- Using Windows Home Server as is.

 

[silkshadow]

Thanks guys! Was just checking out Flexraid live and discovered that it has an added feature now called Flexraid view. Which creates a JOBD-like array. This eliminates my problem with that and Flexraid. I think I will wait for flexraid live. Seems exactly what I am looking for.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks guys! Was just checking out Flexraid live and discovered that it has an added feature now called Flexraid view. Which creates a JOBD-like array. This eliminates my problem with that and Flexraid. I think I will wait for flexraid live. Seems exactly what I am looking for.

Cool. Good luck!