RAID 5 help/advise
hello,
iam new to RAID stuff...thou i already purchased 4x WD 1000 FYPS HDDs...almost created an RAID 5 array with on board raid controller for a start (ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard), with a plans to add PCI controller later, but then some problems arived (like i have to reinstal Vista), and also iam concernd now about 2 things:
1) if i'll create an array with on board controller now and later buy PCI RAID controller - will i be able to port the already created array to PCI controller without loosing the data ? or will i have to create a new array with the new controller?
2) in case of PCI controller - will i be able to add disks to existing array without loosing the data?
please advise
thank you!!!
iam new to RAID stuff...thou i already purchased 4x WD 1000 FYPS HDDs...almost created an RAID 5 array with on board raid controller for a start (ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard), with a plans to add PCI controller later, but then some problems arived (like i have to reinstal Vista), and also iam concernd now about 2 things:
1) if i'll create an array with on board controller now and later buy PCI RAID controller - will i be able to port the already created array to PCI controller without loosing the data ? or will i have to create a new array with the new controller?
2) in case of PCI controller - will i be able to add disks to existing array without loosing the data?
please advise
thank you
!!! 0
Comments
1) You will NOT be able to move the drives over without destroying the old array and creating a new one from scratch.
2) If the controller is decent, yes, you'll be able to add drives to the array "live".
Hope that helps!
guess ill get an controller then
If you want the security. Run 3 drives, non-raided and keep the 4th drive as a backup drive for the other 3.
Oh and if you are serious about running raid never run it off an onboard raid controller that's just asking for trouble.
actualy i do want it for security (just suffered a loss of 2 new HDDs in 1 month)...if i'll run a server - it would be for home use only.
basicly i want those drive for downloads and storage. mainly media - music, hd movies...i got the idea from the NAS thing that home theater company offered me...(i thought then that this is too costy and it whould be cheaper to builld one my self...now i understand how wrong i was
i already tryed to make raid 5 with onboard controller...no luck...suported dvd refused to create a driver on flash drive (flopy i dont have).
anyway i dont know what to do now... to get an controller (which one then??) or use 3 drives and the 4th for backup...the problem is i usualy dont backup...and i always update the content...so id really like it to be backed up instantly on its own...
The RAID edition drives can be used for anything. Personally I'm not convinced they are anything other than marketing.
You will have to load drivers of some kind to install an OS onto RAID, regardless if it's on an add-in card or on-board. You can either slipstream those drivers onto your Windows install CD using nLite or you can attach a floppy drive. This is assuming you are running Windows XP or a prior version. Vista can load drivers from pretty much anything, but will still need them.
Automated backups are incredibly easy and are really the best way to go. My PCs all back up to each other every morning between 3AM and 6AM. I am another satisfied Acronis user.
If you'd like to carry on with RAID, that's fine. I run several arrays myself and just bought this card after moving my 8 port card into my server. If you are going to run RAID 5 you absolutely want a card that has it's own dedicated processor like the one I linked to.
A few things, however:
- If run for a long enough period of time, your RAID array WILL fail. Power outages, bad controllers, bad BIOSs, acts of God, your 2 year old takes the side panel off and plays, whatever.
- RAID will only protect you from hard drive failure, which quite frankly is the least common cause of data loss. It will not protect you from human error or any number of other things, as aforementioned. So back up your array.
- READ READ READ is the key to RAID. Do your research, run the appropriate type of array on the right hardware, if you aren't sure ASK.
It has been my understanding that all SATA drives are hot-swappable, and it is up to the controller to support it. I have certainly been doing it since first generation SATA drives.
That could be true, I'm not 100% on that. But I do know that hot swapping in a USB enclosure is usually a bad idea because of the way the USB assigns to that device.
Oh definitely, hot-swapping USB drives can be bad news. eSATA drives however are great externals if you need to hot-swap and the controller supports it.
Amen.