Re: Storage....Raid 5...or just get more backup drives?

["Paul" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

IF you have Firewire or even better eSATA then use these over USB. USB
is n=
ot good for constant high data requirements. When firewire and USB 2.0
came=
out their were quite a few comparisons done that you should be able to fin=
d, (found this article after writing this paragraph http://www.extremetech.=
com/article2/0,1697,2027098,00.asp)

RAID 5 will protect you from a single disk failure and will improve data
re=
ad performance (data write performance may decrease depending on your RAID
=
card becuase of the calculation of parity). Don't forget you could use
RAID=
6 if available as an improvement over RAID 5.

However, your requirement to add disks of different sizes is going to be a
=
problem with standard RAID. For example RAID 5 will present all drives in
t=
he array as the smallest drive in the array. So if you add a 1TB drive to
a=
n array of 500GB disks it'll only use 500GB of the 1TB disk. It also
assume=
s your RAID card is capable of expansion on the fly and this probably
requi=
res a more expensive RAID card with on-board cache.

I am not sure if a Mac is capable of natively using the Intel Storage
Matri=
x functionallity or whether you can do software RAID in the OS? If you
star=
t streaming video to multiple machines an upgrade to a switched 1GB
connect=
ion then your bottle neck will be your individual drives (SATA controllers
=
can handle 3000MB/s). Gigabit has a theoretical limit of 125MB/s, whereas
a=
single drive is probably around 65MB/s, sustained as opposed to burst. RAI=
D 4,5,6,10,15,50 will allow you to approach the gigabit limit as you add
mo=
re drives (check out this article http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigab=
it-ethernet-bandwidth,2321-7.html)

More research for you than answers.

Paul

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "noel" <noel@...> wrote:
>
> Sorry forgot to add, If I were to go for a Raid 5 capable enclosure
then =
the ability to expand and include different size drives would be a must to
=
cope for expansion in the future. I assume that's possible?!
> Thanks
> N
>=20
> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "noel" <noel@> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks Oliver, interesting about usb vs firewire, I didn't know
about t=
he overhead of USB.
> >=20
> > Googling for the fantec doesn't seem to show much apart from the
manufa=
cturers site.  Price looks pretty good (on Amazon for =A3190 empty). 
Aroun=
d the =A3200 mark I'd be happy to buy an enclosure.  Much more than that
an=
d it's getting a bit expensive for me especially as I plan to back it up
an=
yways.
> >=20
> > Any thoughts/advice anyone on the fantec or alternatives at
reasonable =
prices?
> >=20
> > Thanks
> >=20
> > Noel
> >=20
> > --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Peer Oliver Schmidt <posde@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Noel,
> > >=20
> > > a couple of thoughts:
> > >=20
> > > Re: USB Storage
> > > Using USB for permanent HDD connection is something I would
shy away=
=20
> > > from, as the USB connection is very taxing to the CPU.
Especially wit=
h=20
> > > the Mac Mini Firewire is a way better option
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > > Re: RAID 5
> > > RAID 5 is really just to safeguard you against loosing a
single HDD=20
> > > without interrupting your work/play. You /should/ always do
backups, =
if=20
> > > those media files are worth anything to you.
> > >=20
> > > Re: In general
> > > An idea might be one of those external RAID5 boxes with 4
drive=20
> > > enclosures, like the FANTEC QB-35RFE, or something similar
made by ot=
her=20
> > > manufacturers.
> > >=20
> > > Hope this helps.
> > > --
> > > Best regards
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > > Peer Oliver Schmidt
> > > PGP Key ID: 0x83E1C2EA
> > >
> >
>




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