*Bulletproof* machine -- how do I build one?

Can you recommend hardware and an operating system?  I need to use a flavor of windows but should I use Windows XP or do I need to spring for Windows 2000 or 2003 server?  Is RAID 1 mirroring done at the hardware level or the software level?  

There's hardware RAID and Software RAID.  RAID 1 is RAID 1.  Which is why when people speak of it, they need to be specific if they are talking about HARDWARE RAID or SOFTWARE RAID.  I mentioned above, Hardware RAID 1.

If you wanted to use the combination RAID 5/RAID 1 you'd need to mix Hardware and Software RAID.  If that were the case you would need server.  But FEW people do this (In fact, outside of one instance *I* did, I've never heard of anyone else doing this)..

If you use RAID 1 only, then it would have to be hardware RAID and I'd suggest using XP.  

Server OSs can pretty much do anything workstation OSs can - I used them frequently as my desktop OS with no problem simply because I was running server.  The biggest issue is that a few programs (VERY few) might refuse to run on a server and with 2003 in SOME cases drivers might be an issue for products clearly not expected to be connected to a server.

I've had good experiences with Asus motherboards in the past.  Would their motherboards that say they support Dual SATA RAID fit the bill (I'm sure this is a dumb question but I want to be sure before I fork over $$$$).  For example this motherboard:

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket754/k8vse-d/overview.htm

One other question -- if I put in 2 hard drives and I wanted to "test" the RAID to make sure it would work if one drive failed, how would I test it?  Could I just unplug the power on one of the drives?  

Yes, in theory that should work.  And beyond trusting the RAID controller's BIOS and/or bundled software, I don't know of any other way to test it.  But once you "test" it, you've broken the RAID and you'll need to set it up again, which will be untested.

Don't know if you're planning on closing/accepting my comments as answers, but I don't mind if you want to wait a while and see if others have anything better/different to say.  This is a somewhat subjective question IMHO.

How expensive are we talking -- can you give a link or name a sample system that has this type of configuration.  I think that may be overkill for me but with my luck the day my PC goes down is the day the stock market moves signficantly against me, and I don't close the trades because the machine is down....

I'm going somewhat by memory here, but I believe a suitable RAID controller would be on the order of $100-200.  MAYBE as high as $300.  Then you'd need appropriate drive enclosures ($15-$35 each), and at least 3 drives for a RAID 5 ($40-250 depending on drives).  BUT, the same controller could still do a RAID 1 and allow you to hot-swap a failed drive.  And another consideration is to get an extra drive if the controller supports it and use it as a hot spare.  A hot spare will be automatically put into use in the event a disk fails.  This means, provided the disks don't fail at the same time, you could lose two without losing everything.

Total Cost for a RAID 5 (purely by my memory and estimate) $265-1155.

Can't tell you for sure the costs for normal folk...   we tend to spend $40,000 on each server (NOT an exaggeration... ) to ensure availability and reliability.  Most of my servers use 4 drives - 3 for the array and one for a failover.

I'll do some looking at configurations you could use...

I would Recommend Intel and Nothing else!!! If you want performance and reliability go INTEL with RAID!!! Expensive but reliable. From my past experience only Intel mother boards were able to deliver that kind of performance and reliability that I was looking for. The biggest seller for Intel motherboards is that I never ran in a problem of not being compatible with other hardware and that for me most important. Also have you heard of new hard drives used in laptops that are shoke and fall resistant they are not chip but add extra protection

Actually, I know a guy who sells them and says Intel boards are good, but they aren't as flawless as you suggest.  I once had a problem getting onboard sound working on one.  Personally, I've never had a problem with Super Micro boards.  And Asus has a VERY good reputation.

As far as reliability goes Intel board are obviously the best.  It makes sense, since they also make the processor you will want to use.  They also provide a good RAID option to http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/cs-012525.htm with their new motherboards http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherbd/index.htm.  I think this would suit your needs very well.

Any statement made regarding intel being the best should be backed up with evidence.  Otherwise, it should be stated that it's your opinion.  

In my 10+ years of experience working with brand name computers and brand name motherboards as well as discussing this with an OEM I do subcontracting work for,, "Intel board are obviously the best" has no basis in fact.  It is an opinion.  Intel boards are good, but "obviously the best" is stretch.

He is asking for opinion, that is all there is!

If you can really tell everyone here which hardware is the best BASED ON FACT, please do!  I am sure we would all like to know what is the best.  Which computer hardware is the best is always an opinion, this is why there are thousands of sites out there with computer hardware reviews, if it was based on facts then there wouldn't be more than a handful.  

I didn't say they were the best, I said they were the best for reliability and that is what he is asking for.  This is obviously only my opinion and is based on my experience.

I'm not trying to be a salesman here, but the dell poweredge 1800 is a pretty decent system, it can be configured with a 6 channel serial ata raid controller (adaptec), 4 80 gig  hard drives in a raid 5 (giving about 220 gig of storage space, or about 150 if you use one as a hotspare)  and redundant power supplies for about 2000 dollars.
Might be worth looking into.

raid 5 doesn't have a parity disk, in raid 5 the parity is distributed across all the disks....

Didn;t read all the posts as I am sure all wud be suggesting to go for a RAID... s/w or hardware... I want to add that if u r building a Server.. then consider putting a SAN/NAS for ur server.. or atleast get Windows 2003 Storage server.

These equipment provide lot many features not just fail-over but also remote configuration, scalability, load balancing, performance and off course high availability... u can get a Win2k3 based NAS for as low as US$1,050 and above depending on your storage requirements.

othewise for a Desktop.. look for SATA RAID COntroller on-board. It does allow u a few things with least effort and do consider putting a Hardware "RAID 5" which requires atleast 3 Hard disks. Software RAID 5 can also be implemented using Win 2K3 but u need to convert them to Dynamic disks which cannot be accessed by other lower OS's like WIn 2k PRo, XO home etc. and the CPU overhead is huge.

Yes I am sorry i was confusing 2 questions. RAID5 does not have a parity disk but RAID3 does which is faster but risky if the parity disk fails.

Dan

Just to add a comment on 24/7 trading -- futures trading is available 24 hours a day (OK, technically 22 1/2 as they close briefly twice daily for settlement) 5 days a week.  But forex (foreign exchange) trading is 24/7 with some brokers...

I'm probably going with a RAID 1 setup as I want to keep it under $1000, I'd like it to be able to survive a hard disk failure, but I can't spend the money to deal with a worse failure like motherboard, power supply, etc.

Thanks to everyone for your comments, I really appreciate them!!

Dave

Thank you daronow.

I really do wish you luck in the market.  Personally, I'm hoping for pork bellies and oil, down, military hardware,up.

:)

That, and I wish Iraq would pay for the war.