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Thread: RAID 1

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  1. #1
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    RAID 1

    Hi all,

    This summer, i am working ona project that incorporates a server with RAIDed drives. RAID 1 to be exact.

    I have many question regarding the setup and use of the machine.

    Keep in mind it has not yet been built.

    I want to use this motherboard:

    MSI Neo2-PFS (Platinum Edition)
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=13-130-450

    with an Intel Pentium 4 2.8C

    plus 1GB of Kingston PC3200

    Promise PCI-SATA RAID Controller Card FastTrak S150 TX4
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=16-102-017

    Supermicro 5-Bay Hot-Swap SATA HDD Enclosure CSE-M35T-1B
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=17-121-405

    and two

    Western Digital 200GB SATA Hard Drive Model WD2000JD
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=22-144-153

    I have a few questions concerning compatibility between the chosen hardware as well as some other questions.

    First, will the motherboard accept the RAID card and be able to boot from it?

    Second, will the Hot-Swappable Enclosure work with the RAID card?

    Third, can a RAIDed drive be hot-swapped?

    Fourth, would a board with onboard RAID be better than a PCI card?

    Thanks all.
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Anything?
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
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  3. #3
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    So?
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
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  4. #4
    EX Moderator-May He Rest in Peace rangeral's Avatar
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    Most newer ide and scsi drives support hot-swapping, just be sure to check with the manuf your dealing with before buying.

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Originally posted by rangeral
    Most newer ide and scsi drives support hot-swapping, just be sure to check with the manuf your dealing with before buying.
    This is SATA...Thanks though...this is reassuring...
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
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  6. #6
    Member Jarhed7276's Avatar
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    SATA is hot swappable.

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Jarhed7276
    SATA is hot swappable.
    Thanks again.
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  8. #8
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    But I still need to know this:

    Can a RAID 1 drive in an array be hot-swapped without destroying the array?


    and also,

    Does an onboard SATA RAID work any better(faster) than a PCI card?
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  9. #9
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Originally posted by stix_kua
    But I still need to know this:

    Can a RAID 1 drive in an array be hot-swapped without destroying the array?


    and also,

    Does an onboard SATA RAID work any better(faster) than a PCI card?
    You have to dismount the drive in the RAID utility before hot-swapping.

    Onboard is a wee bit faster.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  10. #10
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Originally posted by BipolarBill
    You have to dismount the drive in the RAID utility before hot-swapping.

    Onboard is a wee bit faster.
    Thank you so much Bill.
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
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  11. #11
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Does anyone have any recommendations for a better SATA RIAD card?

    I have selected this one so far and was wondering if there are any other opinions.

    Promise PCI-SATA RAID Controller Card FastTrak S150 TX4
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=16-102-017
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  12. #12
    EX Moderator-May He Rest in Peace rangeral's Avatar
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    I'm not a raid genius here but there should be at least 3 drives if your going to pull one at some given point so the drive can be rebuilt to the array, if you only had 2 drives not sure how much redundancy there could be if there was a lot of data to cover.

    Also performance is good with 3 drives on the pci bus any more and performance drops as the sata has reached maximum throughput on a pci bus at around 127mb while the pci bus is 133 which is why 4 drives would start dropping off performance wise if thats what your looking for or something to keep in mind.

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    Good eye...you're perfectly correct. Three drives or it won't make sense...I think this setup is to be more focused on the redundancy not performance really. I was also persuaded to use Onboard RAID becuase it offers just "a wee bit" more speed.



    Thanks for looking out for it though.
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  14. #14
    Ultimate Member stix_kua's Avatar
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    After sending emails to both Promise and SuperMicro, Promise sent me an answer that display's the companies lack of testing and Supermicro says it'll work with the card. Promise then atempted to get me to buy their own hot-swap drive bay which has not been doing well in sales.

    So I have found another board with onboard SATA with RAID (4 SATA ports) It is from EPoX It uses the Silicon Image Sil3114 SATA Chip which has been known to do well I guess, from the reviews I have read.
    "I'm no technical supervisor, I'm a supervising technician."
    --Homer Simpson

  15. #15
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    Stix,

    The epox "ep-4pda5+" has 4x sata raid 0/1/10/5 built in. Intel 865pe + ich4 chipset. It is $105 @newegg.

    I have 2 epox boards in use and one more to be built. I have had good luck with them.

    On board will save you some money as well....

    If you are going with a 3 drive system and want redundancy, I believe you will need to go with a raid 5 stripe.

    Correct me if I am wrong but I think:
    raid 0 just spans disks mostly used for performance
    raid 1 is more or less a 2 drive mirror
    raid 5 requires at least 3 drives and uses on drive for redundancy so if any one of the 3 fail, you can put a new drive in and rebuild.
    I don't know what raid 10 is

    Good luck....
    Last edited by wja777; 05-25-2004 at 02:55 PM.

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