Good RAID 5 Solution

[taltamir]

awesome bits of information quixoticone, you really got it down...

OP, you should probably check this out:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2228539&enterthread=y
It is a thread i made to discuss specific threats and how to counter them.

Speaking of which... you MUST physically unplug your external drive from the computer AND the power to protect it against power surges, and you must unplug it from either one to protect it against viruses (or turn it off).

 

[Weatherton]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
These folks seem to have turnkey (maybe BYOD) hardware storage array solutions based on NexentaStor's management software; the prices are certainly considerable, but perhaps not particularly high in comparison to various other actually successful / commonplace commercial NAS/SAN products.

http://www.pogolinux.com/products/storage_director

I can't tell, is there an annual license here?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I am upgrading my PC soon (maybe) and I simply plan on doing external backups only. No RAID solution on the PC. Mostly due to cost.

 

[AkumaX]

Instead of making a new thread, I have a question:

I plan on using XP (Pro SP2) to make a Software RAID 5 solution (4 x 750gb SATAII's) + 1 40gb IDE for OS in possibly a RAID 1.
My Question is, is the OS intelligent enough/capable to spin down all 4 RAIDed hard drives when not in use? Also, one of my friends told me that hard drive spin down decreases life more dramatically. Is that true?

Thanks!

 

[taltamir]

I was also under the impression that non server versions of windows can do software raid5. But then I was informed that it was wrong and they can NOT do so...
So you would not even be able to do software raid5 on XP PRO SP2. (why not SP3?)...

Spin ups / downs decrease life dramatically, constant spin decreases life a little, just like turning a light bulb on and off decreases its life dramatically.

That being said, the decrease might be less then you would get from just running it non stop without spin down, depending on how you access your data.
I would also point out that the whole point of RAID5 is to protect you from hard drive failure. if you are extra worried, use raid6.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: taltamir
I was also under the impression that non server versions of windows can do software raid5. But then I was informed that it was wrong and they can NOT do so...
So you would not even be able to do software raid5 on XP PRO SP2. (why not SP3?)...

Spin ups / downs decrease life dramatically, constant spin decreases life a little, just like turning a light bulb on and off decreases its life dramatically.

That being said, the decrease might be less then you would get from just running it non stop without spin down, depending on how you access your data.
I would also point out that the whole point of RAID5 is to protect you from hard drive failure. if you are extra worried, use raid6.

There is a small hack that enables XP SP2 (SP3 with a little more grunt work) to run Software RAID 5.
The data isn't exactly 'important', but RAID 5's single drive redundancy is good enough for me.

I'd probably end up using it as a NAS, accessing the drive maybe 3-4 hours a day. The current NAS implementation that I'm using right now (A D-Link DNS-323 - 2-bay SATA NAS) does hard drive spin up/shut down. I was wondering how "necessary" it would be if I ran the drive with the usage as intended above. Thanks for your response!

 

[taltamir]

if you want to use it as a nas, use something like freenas. or even opensolaris for ZFS.
I got open solaris and it spins the drives down (I want it to), but that might be the drive itself spinning itself up and down since it is the western digital green power series, in XP I remember having the option to enable or disable drive spin down.
at 3-4 times a day... i have no idea if it is a good or bad idea.

generally speaking, spin down is a feature, and almost anything that can spin it down can disable it as well, and it is not really needed to do so. You save money on electricity by spinning it down, and while lifetime decreases, it doesn't cause a major impact really, and you are already using redundant raid to protect against drive failure.

 

[AkumaX]

Thanks again for your quick response/opinion.

ZFS sounds really intriguing, but since it still is inherently an XP box, I could remote into it and have it do some easy background processes, like encoding or torrent.
Since my DNS-323 does spin down automatically, I'll check out those drives and see how they fare with S.M.A.R.T., since they've been in that mode for more than a year

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
I am upgrading my PC soon (maybe) and I simply plan on doing external backups only. No RAID solution on the PC. Mostly due to cost.

I think that's a good choice for many people. I used to put RAID 1 setups on PCs for friends who never backed up, but, it's SO easy to get a good backup solution nowadays, I no longer feel sorry for them if they lose everything with a hard drive failure.

As long as you don't absolutely need the uptime of a RAID solution (and RAID solutions aren't necessary 100% uptime, either....), my current preference is to attach non-RAID, large hard drives with <2TB partitions (MBR limit) and keep them backed up. You can use Volume Mount Points if you need a "large" single drive.

 

[taltamir]

i recommend RAID1 on a windows box. or two seperate raid1s. (using the mobo)

 

[AkumaX]

here's this weekend's work

 

[AkumaX]

I ran P3 Kill A Watt on my box and its running at 110w idle/light use. Good or bad? :\