Looking For RAID Hardware/Software Advice

[Mark Phillips]

Eric

Thanks for the summary, and thank-you to everyone for their ideas.

Based on NewEgg prices, here is some more information:

Option A
Single Disk IDE Drive - 500 GB and backups, keep OS on existing drive =
$69.99
Use existing controller and just add another drive. No redundancy

Option B
RAID10 with 500 GB backup capacity and redundancy, keep OS on existing drive
= $179.97
2 500 GB SATA2 Drives, new SATA2 controller

Option C
RAID10 with 750 GB backup capacity and redundancy, keep OS on existing drive
= $239.97
Two 750 GB SATA2 Drives, new SATA2 controller

Option D
RAID5 with 1,000 GB backup capacity and redundancy, keep OS on existing
drive = $239.97
Three 500 GB SATA2 Drives, new SATA2 controller

I am leaning towards Option C based on less power consumption with fewer
drives. However, I have to rethink my budget...

After some more reading, I am a little confused about the debate between
RAID5 and RIAD10. I am interested in the group's opinions on which is better
- RAID 5 or RAID 10 and why? What experiences have you had regarding
installation, maintenance, and fixing problems? I am running Debian testing.

Thanks!

Mark
On Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 6:35 AM, Eric Shubert <ejs at shubes.net> wrote:

> 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'
>
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