[Gllug] IDE RAID

[James Bromberger]

Richard Cottrill (richard_c at tpg.com.au) wrote:
> Simon Faulkner wrote:
> >We have a requirement for a lot of storage on a server.
> >
> >I was thinking of using the Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A and 4 x 250 Gb IDE
> >drives.
> 
> Is there a specific requirement for a hardware RAID?
> 
> I understand that
> software RAIDs are generally significantly quicker (something to do with
> the outrageous speed of modern processors). The only other comment I can 
> think of is to try to get good IDE cards for each drive.
> 

*cough*
http://www.james.rcpt.to/programs/debian/raid1/

It all depends on budget, size, downtime, and budget (again). SW raid is
great because you can dotit with very commodity hardware. Its great for
the boxes where you think "I dont need raid". For those you do, and its
for business, investigate HW raid.[ I kind of like the idea of the
external disk boxes that take IDE disks and presetn as a singel SCSI
device to the host computer; they generally have a separate processor
and a little display to let you hot (un)plug IDE disks (by spinning them
down and powering them down before you yank them out).

Having said that, I built a SW Raid 1 box back in Sept 2001, and its
still running fine - one failed disk, successfully replaced, array
resynced, and we're away. No problems.

I noticed yesrterday that OReilley has a new book out on Raid with
Linux, in case you're interested.

  James
-- 
 James Bromberger <james_AT_rcpt.to> www.james.rcpt.to
 Remainder moved to http://www.james.rcpt.to/james/sig.html

I am in London on UK mobile +44 7952 042920.
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