Setting up RAID

[Franco]

My friend knows that I know a bit about computers and has asked me if I would set up a RAID system on his computer for him.

I know what RAID is and also know a fair amount about building/upgrading/setting up computers etc and so I think I should be able to sort it out for him with a little research.

I was just wondering if any of you guys have had any experince with RAID and could tell me how hard it is to implement it. I'm thinking a RAID 0+1 setup would be suitable for him as he is after faster drive access and also added protection against data loss.

Any advice would be great.

[Stingray]

I was just wondering if any of you guys have had any experince with RAID and could tell me how hard it is to implement it.

I usually just take the lid off and spray it in the direction of the bugs.

Edit: I'm sorry that I'm such a wisehiney. Hopefully one of the other tools here actually can help you out.

-S

[Sephroth57]

dont mind stingray hes our resident hick

[Franco]

I was just wondering if any of you guys have had any experince with RAID and could tell me how hard it is to implement it.

I usually just take the lid off and spray it in the direction of the bugs.

Edit: I'm sorry that I'm such a wisehiney. Hopefully one of the other tools here actually can help you out.

-S

 Ha ha, should have known I would have got that reply 

[AtomSmasher]

The only real problem of running raid 0+1 is that you have to shell out a bunch of money for 4 harddrives.

[missioncontrol]

I was just wondering if any of you guys have had any experince with RAID and could tell me how hard it is to implement it.

I usually just take the lid off and spray it in the direction of the bugs.

Edit: I'm sorry that I'm such a wisehiney. Hopefully one of the other tools here actually can help you out.

-S

That reminds me of a story.

Back when I managed the trailer park I went to the office one morning to find a suicide note left from one of the tenants. They had apperently decided to kill themselves and tried to use a large amount of bug bombs to do so.

[Sephroth57]

did it work?

[missioncontrol]

no ii didn't work about the time the fumes started getting to her she chickened out but she did up spending some time in the hospital

[Franco]

Thanks for the (relevent)

[Harry Potter]

Does he want the array for storing data or does he want to boot from it as well (not the best idea to boot from RAID). If you want top speed, don't chain the drives. Run them from individual SATA or IDE ports.

If you don't have the ports on the MB, go to www.promise.com and they have excellent RAID controller cards.

Also the whole 0+1 thing may not be neccessary. This type of array is only really useful if a PC is operating 24/7/365.4.
The drives at normal running time (5-6 hours a day) should last for at least 3-4 years. But each to their own.

Good luck

Edit: If the onboard controller is a Promise brand, all is  . If not, I'd reccomend getting an addon card from them.

[missioncontrol]

Thanks for the (relevent)

[Franco]

Thanks all. I'll find some more info about my friends hardware/needs and more than likely post back.

[Samstag]

I second the nomination for Promise boards.  I have a Promise 4-port SATA RAID card in my main PC.  I'm currently using two drives in RAID 1, but after having them in RAID 0 I just can't stand the lack of speed so I'll be going back to 0 soon.

If your friend is willing to buy four drives to do RAID 0+1, he should get one of the Promise cards that do hardware RAID 5.  Then if you use the same four drives, you'll get an extra boost in transfer rate and get 75% useable space instead of the 50% of RAID 0+1.

And if he really wants to go all out, I can give you a parts list and some advice on setting up a very cheap 1.75 terabyte RAID 5 server for under $1000.

[Samstag]

I got one request for my RAID 5 setup via PM and since it turned out to be a pretty long PM I thought I'd share it here in case there's any other interest:

Your parts list for < $1000 1.75 terabyte raid 5 server is likely very similar to the one I have drafted but I'd be interested in seeing the parts list you would build one from.

Here's the list:

GENERIC 5 1/4" 4-Pin to SATA Power Cable Splitter - OEM
4 @ $3.79 Total $15.16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812101120

COOLMAX 24" SATA ( SERIAL ATA 150 ) Cable, 2-Head, Yellow - OEM
4 @ $3.49 Total $13.96 (4 are included with SATA cards)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812104695

SYBA SD-SATA-4P PCI SATA Controller Card With optional RAID function - Retail
2 @ $21.99 Total $43.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815124020

Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU 480W Power Supply - Retail
$59.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153007

D-Link DGS-1005D 10/100/1000Mbps Switch - Retail
$36.00 (not necessary if you already have one or go with 10/100 or wireless)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817111020

ABIT KV-81 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$63.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127217

AMD Sempron 64 2500+ 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor - Retail
$59.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104251

D-Link DGE-530T PCI 32bit 10/100/1000Mbps Network Adapter - Retail
$20.00 (not part of the server, this was for my primary PC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833127134

Kingston ValueRAM 256MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail
$33.95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141334

Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM 8MB SATA HD
8 @ $79.99 Total $639.92
http://www.geeks.com/

Slackware Linux 10.2
$Free as in beer
http://www.slackware.org/getslack/

Total price $983.97

These were the prices as of September 6th.

[Harry Potter]

Keep the OS seperate.

and may I say..... ---fudgesicle---