Lisa, Thanks for the link to Frys. I thought about a single external drive as it is well within my budget. However, wouldn't a RAID on a slower CPU be a better solution? At least if a drive fails not all is lost as with the single external drive. I also think the RAID on a slower CPU will be faster...is that the case? I have a 100MB Ethernet LAN for most of the machines...two machines are remote across the Internet. The problem is simple - trying to backup more than 150GB to a 150GB drive....I have just run out of room. :-( Mark On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Lisa Kachold wrote: > > http://shop1.frys.com/%7BA7LPrdOKRokR7xrD8aYi8Q**.node2%7D/product/5718492 > > Adding memory is probably not going to assist your plight unless you are > swapping now? A full backup analysis would be required, but it's doubtful > it's memory, rather network bottleneck and schedule based. > > It's possible that your backup application is no longer efficient? Might > try the NAS approach? Even via firewire or USB? > > www.Obnosis.com | http://wiki.obnosis.com | http://hackfest.obnosis.com(503)754-4452 > > > PLUG HACKFESTS - http://uat.edu Second Saturday of Each Month Noon - 3PM > > Subject: Re: Looking For RAID Hardware/Software Advice > > From: craigwhite@azapple.com > > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:58:27 -0700 > > > > On Fri, 2009-01-16 at 09:36 -0700, 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? > > ---- > > 1. One of the tricky things about backuppc (and I don't use it so I am > > working from just a general understanding of things) is that it > > creates/utilizes lots of hard linked files so if the boot os dies, your > > backup may die along with it. The point of RAID is the redundancy part > > which means things just keep working even if there's a complete failure > > of a single hard drive (assuming everything but RAID 0). Having a RAID > > array for your OS would ensure that. > > > > 2. Real hard to match processors at this point and unlikely you would > > find one that exactly matched. Might be easier to find 2 that match each > > other and install them both but for a backup box, that seems > > unnecessary. > > > > 3. Yes, SCSI drives are more expensive - but performance should be much > > better. > > > > 4. RAM may help a little. Free shows output of virtual memory but > > doesn't suggest how much real RAM you have there. Assuming a text based > > interface (not GUI), 256 MB RAM for what you're doing should be enough. > > > > 5. Cheap RAID hardware cards are cheap because they suck. Most of the > > SATA 'RAID' cards are either 'fake' RAID (they aren't really hardware > > RAID) and perform especially poorly on commonly used RAID 5 (3 drives > > minimum but maximum drive space). > > > > 6. Makes sense. > > > > Software RAID works well. You can create a RAID volume for your OS is > > you wish - i.e. one drive on SCSI and one on SATA but the suck thing is > > that... > > - You can't just convert from an existing filesystem to a RAID array. > > You'd have to copy it all off, create your RAID array, copy the files > > back and then fix the boot issues > > - RAID works much better if the drives are on different controllers - a > > controller can only write one drive at a time. > > > > Craig > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > > 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 > > ------------------------------ > Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. See how it works. > > --------------------------------------------------- > 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 >