chrispols
asked on
Advice on RAID with SATA drives
Hi everyone,
Quick question, i'm just making sure here, so all feedback is very welcome.
I have to install a RAID system on a Windows 2000 machine for crucial data storage. It's been quite awhile since I set any RAID up, so there must be new stuff on the market that I don't know.
I have 2 X SATA Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200RPM 8MB.
1 X PCI SATA Raid controller 2-port - ADAPTEC 1210SA
Data being backed up are photographs (useless info. but anyway)
Which RAID would work best? Ideally, fast write speeds, owing to the pictures being quite large, and coming from an External Firewire ATA drive. Also, I don't want to waste a lot of storage space (I read somewhere there are issues with some RAID setups where 50% storage is lost)
As well as total redundancy, considering the data is this persons career. Obviously an off-site backup would be great, but no $$$. So, 2 drives are the next best thing.
RAID1 is my thought. I heard there were new RAID arrays, but I cannot get proper thoughts about them. Of course, that's why I come to Experts-Exchange.
Thanks a lot,
Chris
Not worth a lot of points, I just don't have many :)
Quick question, i'm just making sure here, so all feedback is very welcome.
I have to install a RAID system on a Windows 2000 machine for crucial data storage. It's been quite awhile since I set any RAID up, so there must be new stuff on the market that I don't know.
I have 2 X SATA Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200RPM 8MB.
1 X PCI SATA Raid controller 2-port - ADAPTEC 1210SA
Data being backed up are photographs (useless info. but anyway)
Which RAID would work best? Ideally, fast write speeds, owing to the pictures being quite large, and coming from an External Firewire ATA drive. Also, I don't want to waste a lot of storage space (I read somewhere there are issues with some RAID setups where 50% storage is lost)
As well as total redundancy, considering the data is this persons career. Obviously an off-site backup would be great, but no $$$. So, 2 drives are the next best thing.
RAID1 is my thought. I heard there were new RAID arrays, but I cannot get proper thoughts about them. Of course, that's why I come to Experts-Exchange.
Thanks a lot,
Chris
Not worth a lot of points, I just don't have many :)
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RAID 1 writes the exact same data to both disks thus providing a full backup at all times, in case of a single disk crash you still have a full working copy of your drive
ASKER
Hey,
Ok, I think I just stepped into "Stupidity" territory. It's just before leaving work and my brain wasn't working.
I was thinking that I would only have 50% storage of 200Gb. Not 50% of 400Gb. Sorry, I knew that, was just not thinking.
Thanks
Will assign points now.
Chris
Ok, I think I just stepped into "Stupidity" territory. It's just before leaving work and my brain wasn't working.
I was thinking that I would only have 50% storage of 200Gb. Not 50% of 400Gb. Sorry, I knew that, was just not thinking.
Thanks
Will assign points now.
Chris
Thanks for filling him in, reedsr!
chrispols, don't worry, I've seen worse cases of misunderstanding here.
chrispols, don't worry, I've seen worse cases of misunderstanding here.
ASKER
Great. Thanks. Could you explain why 50% is only in use? What happens to the other 50%?
200 Gb : 200Gb
Data : Data
If it writes the same data to each disk, what happens to the rest?
Thanks
Chris