5 x 320GB SATA HD's - What Type of RAID for external storage?

[iselljerseyshore]

I have (5) 320GB SATA Drives that I plan on adding to my system in some sort of RAID configuration, what type of RAID(s) should I implement?

My system is mainly used as a datawarehouse and sometimes used for gaming, although once in a while CoH, CoD etc are played........ The Windows install is mirrored on 2 x 80GB drives.

Should I create 1 RAID-5 Array out of these (5) 320GB SATA Drives, or should I create a few different RAID Array's?

Option 1:

5 x 320GB in RAID-5

Option 2:

4 x 320GB in RAID-5
1 x 320GB As a Regular Drive

Option 3:

3 x 320GB in RAID-5
2 x 320GB in RAID-0


The whole reasoning behind my post is that I have only 2 ports available on my on-board SATA RAID Adapter, I will need to purchase a new SATA RAID Controller, and have to figure out if I should get a 4-PORT or a 8-PORT to handle the 5 x 320GB SATA Drives...........

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

-Frankie

 

[rammedstein]

8 port, you can't usually do inter-controller raid, so unless you want one drive to be outside the array, i say go 8port, pci-e4x, raid 0

 

[ondrugs]

personally i wouldn't trust raid 0 for storing data. if one disk goes, you lose everything! get the 8 port card and raid 5 all of them. if you get another disk you could raid 10 them, but it depends on how paranoid you are about losing a disk, and how much space you are willing to sacrifice in the name of paranoia.

 

[manicmenace]

if i was in your situation i wouldn't mind perhaps having 2 raid 0 and 3 in raid 5 however you'll have like 640gb in both sections then, you could store all the non important data on the raid0 array and important stuff on the raid 5.

However who's going to have 640 gb of data they they wouldn't mind loosing!?!

I have a raid 0 setup on a couple of small disks the array is just over 80gb but thats good for me as i have windows files and installations stuff on there (backing up my "my documents" data to other hdd's) I dont think i could ever fill 640gb!

So i guess your pretty much stuck with raid 5 and if i was you go for 5 disks on it, this is because if you raid five 4 disks you loose 320gb of sotrage and if you raid 5, 5 disks, you still loose 320gb of storage! This means you get more data integrity and gain more storage space, comparing to your raid5 4 of them and have one as standalone.

good webbie:
http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/RaidCalc/RaidCalc.asp

Hope this helps

 

[iselljerseyshore]

Thanks everyone for your input!

I was pretty much set on going RAID-5 with the 8-PORT adapter, but wanted to see what the consensus would be and it seems that everyone is on the same page with my thinking, or I am on the same page as everyone else


I do have one more question, which 8-PORT Adapter do you recommend?


Thank Again for your help!

-Frankie

 

[tonyp12]

external 8ports -RocketRAID 2322

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115028
Though going 8port adds a lot of costs.

On a budget, use internal raid5 built-in on mobo on 4 sata ports.
I don't think there is a mobo that can really handle 6 drives in raid5, but maybe soon.

Get a case that can handle 8 internal HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811123126

 

[iselljerseyshore]

I am going to keep the 5 x 320GB drives inside my system, I have a spare SATA Cage that I will use to hold the drives (http://www.icydock.com/product/mb455spf.html)....

SO with that being said I have some additional questions on which RAID controller to get based on my motherboard specs............


MSI P6N SLI Platinum Motherboard

SLOT Info:

- 2 PCI-Express x 16 Slots
a. the second PCI Express x 16 slot (PCI_E4) is a special design that supports PCI Express x 8 mode only
b. these two slots can support SLI Technology with PCIE x8 mode
c. the second PCI Express x 16 slot (PCI_E4) only supports to install graphics card in SLI mode

- 1 PCI Express x1 slot
- 3 PCI slots, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus interface.


So do I want to get a:

HighPoint RocketRAID 2320 PCI-e x4 (x8 and x16 slot compatible) adapter?

or

HighPoint ROCKETRAID2220 PCI-X adapter?


And which slot should I install this adapter in to?


Thanks again for your input!

-Frankie

 

[ondrugs]

I may be stating the obvious, but just remember that PCI-e and PCI-x are two totally different slots!
PCI-x are normally on server motherboards.

 

[iselljerseyshore]

I may be stating the obvious, but just remember that PCI-e and PCI-x are two totally different slots!
PCI-x are normally on server motherboards.

Sorry you were not stating the obvious, I am new to PCI-X that is why I am unsure as to which adapter to purchase.

Thanks!