Backup Server RAID Suggestions - Resend

[Robin Laing]

Mike McMullen wrote:
> Thank you Gilboa and James!
> 
> Here's a little more information.
> 
> Someone gave me the de-branded HP Athlon 64 X2 PC. So I have a free PC
> I'd like to turn into a NAS server. This doesn't have to be pretty just
> functional and semi-cheap.
> 
> Since there isn't room in the PC case for the drives, let alone cooling
> and power, I figured some external case/RAID storage box might do the
> trick.
> 
> This thing doesn't need to be the fastest on the planet just reliable
> and as inexpensive as possible. I need the money for lenses for the
> cameras. ;o)
> 
> I've been looking at enclosures etc at www.pc-pitstop.com that use a
> port multiplier. 
> 
> These seem reasonable. Anyone know anything about port multipliers? Am I
> missing something big here? 
> 
> I'm definitely not an expert on raid storage.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2008-09-08 at 06:35 -0700, Mike McMullen wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am trying to build a NAS server based on Fedora 9.
>>
>> I will be using a de-branded HP Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core with 2GB RAM
> and
>> two 250GB drives mirrored for the OS stuff and a few apps.
> 
> 
> 

Instead of purchasing an external case, I would look at the suggestion 
of getting a new computer with enough SATA ports to work with you drive 
requirements.  It could be cheaper to do this and provide a server that 
can do other things like transcoding videos or running ImageMagick 
scripts on directories of photos.

I just purchased a large Thermaltake case that can hold all the drives 
my ASUS motherboard has SATA and IDE ports for.

I am looking at this as well but looking at the new Seagate 1.5TB drives.

 From a previous thread, you may want to order your drives at different 
times to ensure that all your drives don't come from the same batch.

I was looking at using RAID 1 but the lost drive space over RAID 1 and 
RAID 5 is drastic enough.

I have had drive issues under RAID 1 with software RAID and recovery was 
very easy.  I don't see any reason for hardware RAID for a home small 
business system.  You can use that money for a decent camera lens.


-- 
Robin Laing