5 x 2TB WD in RAID 5 configuration

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but you will need a 64 bit OS to be able to have all that data in one block and not X amount of partitions.

With that much storage, have you considered any sort of NAS?

Greetings all...

I have spent a while reading thru many of the posts and comments in this division of the forum because I have become concerned about the safety as well as accessibility of my data (approx. 4.5TB currently). We all have need of protection from hardware/software/corruption loss. Eclipse2001, above, suggests a possible solution which I am not knowledgeable enough to evaluate.....which brings me to my point/question in this comment......

I have been reading up on the different flavors of Netgears product line, and while they sound great, I can't tell if they are a rip off for the price, or if they just don't do as good a job as they claim. No one here has reviewed them, and I haven't found reviews anywhere else that I know of as reliable. Would anyone care to respond to that? On the face of it, it would appear that the Netgear RNDP600E ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer 6-Bay NAS, for $1,200 would be an excellent solution for many of us.

Netgear claims "the ReadyNAS Pro utilizes hardware-accelerated RAID to ensure full data redundancy without compromising the system performance. Incorporating Intel Matrix Storage Technology, the ReadyNAS Pro supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, and NETGEAR’s patent pending X-RAID2™, with hot spare capability. With RAID 6, the system ensures data integrity even with 2 simultaneous disk failures. The extra disk bays provided by the 6-bay ReadyNAS Pro makes RAID 6 and hot spares practical options worth considering to prevent any prolonged state in which the ReadyNAS data volume is left in an unprotected state."

Someone commented on one of the threads that RAID 5 wasn't a backup solution.....I'm not sure why that was uncontested...although like I stated before, I'm a noobie at NAS and RAID.....is RAID 5 and/or 6 an adequate backup solution?

This system will cost around $1,200 for the Netgear product, plus the cost of 6 drives (6x2TB Seagates or WD's @ $220), plus the cost of a good surge protector/power supply ($100?) = approx. $2,600........I think that's kind of a lot of money, but I can just about afford it, and I know I can't afford a significant data loss (though this is for my home, not an office or business).

Can anyone knowledgeable venture an opinion for me? I really don't know where else to turn.......

Thanks all.............

@aoster :

Yes, this was the first thing I thought about, but I am a bit worried about noise of NAS devices. Furthermore I would need a fast access to this data, I suppose the e-SATA connection would allow this, but this means buying a whole workstation (case, cpu etc) + a complete NAS server, which is much more expensive + noisy and hot than a workstation all in one.
The only thing I don't know is if this would heat too much or not. Installing a 64 bit system is no problem at all.

Just put your disks in the (empty) 5,25 bays, where your CD/DVD goes. With a nice bracket that leaves plenty of free space for airflow. As WD Green drives consume less than regular 7200rpm disks the heat should be no problem with a margin of space between the drives. You can even do this in a cheap case. The normal 1TB WD Green requires no additional cooling and can be packed with other 1TB disks without overheating. That's a big plus for these drives. But as you say, the 2TB does consume more power (and may also be less reliable). Its waiting for newer 666GB platters so a 2TB disk only needs 3 platters. Then the cost also would go down.

So keep this in mind. On the other hand, 2TB disks do store alot of data-per-Watt and saves the number of SATA ports and physical space you need. So im not dismissing this option as bad or anything. Its a compromise.

Thanks sub mesa,

a very simple but good solution I think. Especially as the P183 has lots of bays that would be actually free. I am thinking about the P183 because of noise. Concerning this, do you know some brackets for 5.25" to 3.5" with sum silicone vibrational buffers?

Concerning 2Tb or 1Tb, well with 1Tb I would live a bit more calmly, but lets see if the 2Tb can hold it in a RAID5 (It's not me paying)   and I am also rather confident with WD as I never experienced HD failure although I do not claim that this can not happen to WD disks.

Thanks for the hint.

things you should do:
1) get a good 8-port raid controller (adaptec comes to mind) on the pci express bus (at least 4x), this will cost anywhere between $300-500 USD
2) make sure the raid card you do get (if not the best) has support for 64bit LBA for having volumes over 2TiB
3) make sure you us GUID instead of MBR on the volume so you can have partitions over 2TiB

Cooler Master HAF-932 or HAF-922 have well cooled drive bays.


MRFS

HI I can tell you for fact as I a stilling next to a Net-gear Pro 6 bay Nas and it does not make any noise. It so quiet I sometimes think it's off. Currently I have 4 2T byte drives 2 Sea-gate and 2 2T Maxell drives. It's configures in about 20 minutes using the Wizard walk thur setup. I am a dummy when it comes to things like Raid it gives you 2 choices for Raid X-Raid2 or Flex Raid that allow you to Chose from Raid 0-6. I am no Mass storage guru so I just Chose X-Raid 2 since it allows for the most data protection and allows easy expansion of a volume set. I monitors both the fan speeds and internal Heat they both are dealing with. The NAS does not feel hot by touching it or even when you put your hand on the trays the air feels cool flowing out of the exgaust vents. I bought a Drobo drive and Drobo share spent an entire day trying to get the share to work eventually I returned it to the vendor they refunded me fully and I purchased the Netgear. I am happy with this choice by far. I am running this NAS on a 64 bit systems as well. I am running it on a Mac mini Server with SL have both ethernet ports plugged into a switch. The only thing I found was when you connect a external USB drive to one of the 3 ports they provide the NAS correctly recognized it but the system or Web based control page doesn't seem to. I am still learning ....

I think you will be fine with your current hardware for setting up a RAID 5. I have a 6-disk RAID 5 with a 525 watt PS and an i860. I pull maybe 130 watts from the wall with the disks working hard. With everything running all out in the system I might get to 200 watts. Your drives eat more power and your processor might too. But, you still should be ok. The case is not bad either. I have an antec 300 and its is really great for the six drives. I am using intel raid on the motherboard and it works fine. The hardware card will be a better choice for RAID 5 speed, especially during a RAID rebuild. It is also probably more stable. I will admit that I get excellent read performance from my integrated RAID 5 though. And no issues either. The NAS is nice I'm sure, but $1200 gets you a lot of hardware and you still have to buy the drives. Seems a bit steep. You could probably get a rack mount EMC managed RAID for that price from ebay.

RAID 5 is a "safer" storage solution for your data.

I think the poster was referring to the point that many will get a RAID 5 storage solution and use that to store their precious data, junking the idea of backing up their data.

So the moral of the story is if your data is precious: Regardless if you store it on a RAID5/6 array you should back it up elsewhere.

How fast do you want? 230MB/sec would that work?

If so look at this hardware raid 5 drive...
http://www.datoptic.com/hardware-raid-5-enclosure.html

Keep in mind Windows XP is 32bit OS, therefore it wont able to see over 2TB volume

The nice thing about raid array.. It DOES NOT need any driver... as long as you have GOOD SATA port...then the system can see the raid array

If you have SATA2 port - you can HOT PLUG - HOT REMOVE