WorkStation Upgrade -- Raid + SSD +SAS

[dmw5678]

I was going to buy a new dual socket 771 motherboard, but deceded to wait for Intel(Hehalem)

My goal is to switch from 3.5 to 2.5 drives while mainting speed of the raptors. Reduce heat,power, and footprint with a small tower case. Anyone with the Adaptec 5805 controller? Any comments/suggestions on the gear?

Primary use programming --C++,VB,C# etc...




New Gear
------------------
Adaptec 5805 - 8 port

2 x QuadraPak Q14 enclosures to hold upto 8 x 2.5 drives

SSD 64GB PATRIOT x 2 RAID 0 - (Virtual Machines)

SAVVIO SAS 10k.2 146GB x 4 Raid 10 (OS + APPS)
SAVVIO SAS 10k.2 146GB x 1 Hot spare

1 Seagete SATA 7200 1000GB - ESATA Back up/storage



Old Gear
--------------------
Raptor 150 x 2 Raid 0
SEAGATE 1000GB x 2

 

[MrGuvernment]

How do those patriot drives perform vs others..

 

[dmw5678]

I'm extremly pleased + I have not noticed any stuttering. However, I've placed them in a raid 0 array with the Adaptec 5805. It's certainly faster than my old Raptor and SAS drives in Raid 0. On Average 290+ mb read vs 170+- mb read for the SAS/Raptor drives. I'm still testing and will post the config that worked for me.

 

[nitrobass24]

I dont have experience with the quadrapak but ive heard that performance isnt that good...I think you would be happier with one of these supermicros m28e1 or m28e2 They are a little more expensive but for a highend application its probably worth the money

 

[Ockie]

Wait, you are placing a hot spare on a raid 10 array? Isn't that a little over redundant for such a configuration? If you are so worried about redundancy, toss in two raid controllers and team them with mirrored configurations.

Also, I'd go with the supermicro hot swap unit, much more solid.

 

[dmw5678]

Thanks All, Raid 10 + host spare does not make much sense. I tend to keep a spare of all parts that can fail, most of the time finding its way on ebay unused after a few years. I will look into the cage to see if it will fit in my case.

 

[Ockie]

The supermicro cage has no problem fitting the A-05.

 

[Pocatello]

Wait, you are placing a hot spare on a raid 10 array? Isn't
that a little over redundant for such a configuration? If you are so worried about redundancy, toss in two raid controllers and team them with mirrored configurations.

Raid 6 with 8 drives --- eight 1 TB drives ---- about 6.5 TB of data.

If you mirrored the raid 6 array on another identical controller card, would you use any hot swap hard drives? Or would that be overkill?

Also, I'd go with the supermicro hot swap unit, much more solid.

The super micro stuff looks really nice. I love that mother board / case combo in your huge server, Ockie.

 

[canislupy]

I dont have experience with the quadrapak but ive heard that performance isnt that good...I think you would be happier with one of these supermicros m28e1 or m28e2 They are a little more expensive but for a highend application its probably worth the money

What's wrong with the quadrapack? I have had 0 issues with 4x velociraptors. The supermicro may be a better choice for the OP seeing as his requirements is for 7 drives to begin with, but be careful with that enclosure, since one is a dual port model, and the cables are a little more confusing to work out IMO.

Another enclosure I just got to play with today is this:
http://www.sansdigital.com/instastor/is12tb.html

2x 2.5" drives in a 3.5" slot. I'm not sure I'd trust it to velociraptors, but I will be putting two Intel X25-M's in it anyway for some RAID0 boot drive goodness.

As for the Adaptec 5805, I am a little disappointed at performance vs. my Areca 1222, but it has the advantage of having better drivers for Vista 64 (at least on nVidia chipsets).