Review my RAID plans please

AWBbox

AWBbox

AWBbox

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Joined
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Hi guys, any chance you could give my proposed new RAID array plans a glance over. I would appreciate any input you could provide on my decision.

I plan to get:

1 x AMCC 3Ware 9690SA-8I-KIT PCI Express SAS Raid Controller

1 x Battery backup unit for the above controller for write caching (not sold on OCUK)

4 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

I intend on running those drives in RAID 10. But I also have a Raptor-X and another drive which I would like to run independently. Would it be wise to use these on the same controller as independent disks (for performance gains)? Or should I just keep them where they are on my motherboard?

All comments welcome.
 
Oh sorry I should have explained that. I needed a RAID solution that would transcend multiple operating systems on separate partitions. Basically I will be using this array as my storage partition which my different OS's can use. True hardware RAID is my only real choice as far as I can see, and I didn't want to compromise on performance.
 
With respect, I don't believe that there is any onboard RAID solution (on an enthusiast level motherboard) that offers that kind of functionality. I mean to use this volume between both windows, various linux and other operating systems that won't work with software RAID due to the driver limitations. If you could provide an example of which this is not the case I would be interested to see it. My own motherboard is in my sig btw.
 
Thanks for the heads up regarding the 7200.11's. I had no idea about those issues, but after reading up on it I have very much lost my appetite for them...

As it happens, the Western Digital RE3 would have been my second choice. Though it is a shame to loose the extra disk space. I understand what you're saying about the lack of requirement for the RAID5 functionality of the card. It's something I can do without, but I just can't seem to find a cheaper RAID card that has the driver support I need. If you know of one, can any of you link me to a manufacturer web site please? (I don't think that's against the rules)
 
Zarf said:
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I have done a little reading on dmraid after what you said and it looks like people have been succeeding with it after kernel 2.6.24 I have tried this method in the past without success which is why I discounted it as an option in the first place. I might have to give it another go! Also, how come those Perc 5/i controllers are so cheap?? I am amazed actually, they seem to have all the functionality I need except they are a fifth of the price of the 3ware RAID controllers.

JonJ678 said:
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Thanks very much for your contribution. I will go into more detail about how I want to use my system so it's a little clearer:

  • I mean to use multiple OS's on my computer as I enjoy using linux day-to-day but I also, occasionally, play games. So a Windows partition is needed. I keep all my data on my RAID array and very little is actually on the raptor itself.
  • I do regular backups onto a separate drive which is then kept off site. I didn't see that the redundancy of RAID5 would bring any benefit. Plus, the performance difference between that and the RAID0 I am used to looked awful on paper.
  • I have no more free SATA ports on my motherboard, they're all used up. I want more hard drive space, and I guess at a push I could run to 4 free 3.5" bays.
 
Ok, I have looked further into an LSI Perc 5/i controller and I have to say I am quite taken by the idea. The price for the convenience and performance of the unit certainly seems worth it imo. But I still have a couple of questions:

  1. Is it worth running my single, independent disks off the LSI controller along side the RAID as opposed to using the sata controller on the motherboard?
  2. Would I see any performance gains by doing this?
  3. Would I have to re-install the operating systems on those in order to get this to work, or could I just move them over straight away?
  4. Should I format the new RAID partition as NTFS and mount it in Linux, or should I format it in ext2 and use an ext2 driver for Windows?

Thanks for your help.
 
Ok, scrap the perc 5/i RAID controller. It doesn't have LBA64 and so cannot support partitions over 2tb. It now seems I am back to square one with the controller, the 3ware 9690SA is looking viable again. But the questions in my previous post still stand.
 
I just thought I would post an update on what's been going on. Thanks to Zarf's recommendation I have gone ahead and bought a (Dell) LSI Perc 5/i RAID controller from a popular auction site. It was a little over £100 for an 8 port SAS RAID controller with 256Mb of memory (expandable to 512Mb), two in-line 4 way SATA cables and a battery backup unit. After reading up a whole lot in a thread on this forum, it seems I can even firmware it to be (to all intents and purposes) exactly like the board it is derived from, the LSI MegaRAID SAS 8480E. And those things still retail at £500-£600 :eek:

Anyway, it should arive in 7-10 days or so and I will update when I have more to report. I won't be able to afford the hard drives for at least 3 weeks anyway.

Edit: Also, forgot to mention I have been convinced into using RAID 5. Those benchmarks on the forum I linked to aren't too shabby at all!
 
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