Mark Phillips wrote: > I am running out of room for my backups. I use backuppc and I have > almost filled a 150GB drive with backups from 7 computers, and I need to > add another 2 computers to the set. I have an old Dell Poweredge 1300 > server (Pentium III 550 Mhz, 500 MB RAM, PCI 33.3Mhz) that I could turn > into a backup server. I am looking for suggestions/thoughts on how to > set this up. I need to keep the cost down as much as possible; under $150. > > My initial thoughts: > > * Keep current 72 GB drive for OS (debian testing, about 68% full) > * Add two 500 GB SATA drives and a PCI SATA controller ~$130 > * Software RAID and LVM for the two drives > * Move current 150 GB of backups to the RAID > * Backuppc now runs on this machine and slowly fills up the RAID > > My questions: > > 1. Should I keep the 72 GB drive for OS, or put it on the RAID? > > 2. I can add another CPU (P III 550 MHz) processor to the box - is it > worth the effort to find one? I found one source for $5/CPU, I just need > to find the heat sink and mounting hardware. Will this improve performance? > > 3. The box has a built-in SCSI 68-pin Ultra2/wide bus/controller, but > SCSI drives are more expensive, at least from a cursory google search. > Is this correct? I don't think I can use SCSI drives within my budget > constraint. > > 4. Would upgrading the memory to 1GB improve performance - top shows: > Mem: 646676k total, 639300k used 7376k free, 64548k buffers > This would add another ~$60 to my cost. > > 5. Should I look at hardware RAID cards - they seem very cheap, so > perhaps software is better? > > 4. Does this plan make sense, or is there a better way to proceed for > about the same cost? > > Thanks! > > Mark > Good replies, all. To sum things up, I think a SATAII PCI card (2 or 4 port) and 2 drives is all the HW you need to add to the backup box you currently have. Set up the drives with SW RAID-1 (mirrored) and you're good to go. Migrate the data to the raid device, and keep the OS on the existing drive. With KeepItSimpleStupid in mind, I recommend using RAID-1 as opposed to RAID-5. With the price of drives these days, the additional space you get with RAID-5 isn't worth the headache you'll get when there's a problem. With RAID-1, each drive can be mounted (and used) individually if necessary. Not so with RAID-5. -- -Eric 'shubes' --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss