RAID5 options

[Dai]

Sort-of a follow on from Kryogenic's disk drive failure thread..

Any of us who use RAID5 or similar secure storage options for a home setup. What kit do you use or recommend for cost-effective home/small office rigs?

I'm not sure for instance if hot-swap is actually worth the outlay, although I do like the idea of trying Kymmy's shock trick. Any opinions here? Is it only really necessary on a server that's required 24/7?

[Kymmy]

raid5 doesn't mean that the drives have to be hot-swappable as hotswap is only used if the server needs 100% uptime. What it does mean though is that you're using the least disk space possible for parity unlike a mirrored drive that uses 50% space for parity. There's a lot of motherboards now available that does raid5 with SATA including my old ASUS M2N4

My board does 0 1 5 and 10

[brundles]

This is a rather timely thread - I'd been looking stuff like this today.

The motherboard I have supports the RAID options, but I prefer the idea of having a NAS setup running RAID5 instead given the laptops in the house and longer term ideas of an additional HTPC in another room.

There's this one on EBuyer that does the job, but I'm pretty sure there must be cheaper alternatives given that's an Intel box.

Hot swapable NAS systems are never gonna be cheap
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01...net_disk_raid/
example

i think the box you linked to is cheap

In fact the Lacie device is reported to be the same device in a different case with 4 500 gig hdds costs 900 quid. The Intel box with 4 x 500 gig drives will be 350 quid less

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by David F

In fact the Lacie device is reported to be the same device in a different case with 4 500 gig hdds costs 900 quid. The Intel box with 4 x 500 gig drives will be 350 quid less

Hhhmmmm...1.5TB of redundancy I wonder if I cn get Jen to read this in time for my birthday

[brundles]

TBH, I'm not worried about hot swap capabilities - as Kymmy mentioned that's only for 100% uptime. The missus can be demanding, but she's not that bad! For home use, hot swap does seem a bit over the top.

I think you're right though - the eBuyer cost does seem to be reasonable considering. The Buffalo Terastations look good too but they're more expensive.

your other option is a 2 disk mirror array in a simpler nas unit like the netgear

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-SC10.../dp/B000S2CYJA

[Kymmy]

Personally my little server will eventually get a 2nd HDD which I'll just Raid1, also the main data is sync'd to a local and remote client elsewhere so not looking at data retention more a case of fast system rebuild.

[brundles]

Kind of pricey, but the Thecus N5200B got agood review.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Remember that if your raid controller card, or it's settings get screwed up, you are in danger of data loss, even if things are striped across the disks. And yes screwing it up can happen if your doing updates to BIOs and firmware, or the like. Don't beleive that raid alone is enough. You still need a proper backup regime.

[brundles]

No argument there - although it does depend what and what quantity you're storing as to whether a backup becomes unfeasible - running a 4TB RAID5 setup for example.

If you're just archiving films you've ripped from your DVDs for convenient access you're probably not to bothered, but following the original post reason (i.e. backup options) it's definitely still important. It might be better (if still using NAS) to just use 2 smaller NAS boxes instead having 1 backup to the other.

Or just 1 with a mirrored array.

TBH if I was looking at a big solution with a massive storage capability raid and hot swap I would just build a little pc with a cheap x2 a good well featured mobo with plenty of raid options and lets face it they are easy to come by now.Set it all up with windows server something free and dedicated to the job and put it out the way. would save 200 quid on that Nas box

[brundles]

Yeah I had thought about the build a cheap box approach - doesn't it become more power hungry at that point though?

And (excusing the stupid question!) perhaps I'm misreading, but what do you mean by "with a cheap x2"?

There are energy efficient cpus you can use. AMD have 65 watt versions but there are small for factor things that run on a via chip or an Atom system running @ 30 watts with a raid controller would imo make a solution

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=47#d945gclf example of an atom

actually these atoms look pretty cool. 35 watts out put under load to a tv obviously add your hdds you have a solution for a nas at very little cost