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Building a RAID server???
squirrellydw:
Can someone help me build a RAID server? i would like to use an old PC, what else do I need, OS, raid card, drives??
I would like recommendations for a raid card, and the OS has to be windows and anything else I need.
XyloSesame:
What's your intended use for the array?
Samstag:
It would help a lot if you explain what sort of raid configuration you're aiming for and what type of drives you'll use. Also as XyloSesame asked, it's somewhat important to know how you'll use the machine.
If you're going to use an old PC (and especially if you're only going to use it as a simple network-attached storage system) I don't see any reason to spend money on dedicated raid hardware. Windows XP and Linux can both do software raid and if the CPU and storage aren't going to be doing a lot of heavy simultaneous jobs then performance will be good for very little cost.
My raid 5 setup is based on cheap PC hardware and Linux. I've got a pair of 4-port SATA adaptors that cost about $15 each to handle 8 250 gig drives. So you're talking about $15-30 plus the cost of disks if your PC has 2 open PCI slots and a power supply that can handle the load.
You might also want to invest in some gigbit ethernet cards and a switch if you're going to do heavy transferring.
squirrellydw:
I plan on using RAID 5 and Hitachi SATA drives. I would like to use it for backup as well as accessing my music from two computers at the same time. Also accessing my photos now and then and store my Ripped DVDs on it and access them to watch on TV. I guess it will be used mainly as a media server but I want to use it also to back up some data. It needs to be able to connect to both windows and Mac. I would prefer to have hardware RAID but not sure what the benefit to it is. I just want to make sure if a drive dies that I can replace it and not lose the data. I will probably start out with 3 drives and add 2 more in the future. I have access to to win2000 and XP Pro, will they work or should I use something else, has to be windows based since I don't know anything about Linux so please don't suggest that.
oh, the PC is a P3 something, don't remember the exact specs. I will build a new one after I have it setup and working and have more money :)
Thanks
Samstag:
The advantage of hardware raid is that when you're using raid 5 it requires parity calculations for every read and write. Normally you'd want hardware, but if this PC is doing nothing but move files from disk to network and back, you might as well use the CPU to take care of that. It's been a long time since looked at raid cards but I doubt you'll find one that'll take care of your needs for under $200. Or buy one of these for $22 (or shop around for cheaper). Note that those are 150M/s Sata I adaptors, which will suit your needs just fine. Unless you can get SATA II cards for the same price they're not likely to be a signifigant upgrade. Spend the money on the drives and get some nice big ones.
Win XP can do raid 5 but it requires a small hack. I've never done it but I'm told it's fairly simple. My experience is all with linux.
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