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General discussion

Server Hard Drive Selection

Nov 22, 2006 12:43AM PST

It seems to me that using a RAID 1 configuration in a small business server is the way to go. If a drive goes down than there is another one there to fall back on, right? Following this logic companies will ALWAYS be up and there is no need for any other RAID configuration. SO . . .

Why are there other RAID configurations?
RAID 5 seems to be the most popular, but why? As far as I can tell there are small gains in performance, so what's the draw?

Looking forward to your replies,

Po

Discussion is locked

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In theory yes. But other failures (the more common ones)
Nov 22, 2006 2:11AM PST

RAID 1 does not substitute for backup since a virus/worm/pest wipes out not only one drive but both at the same time. Same story for "accidental" deletes. In fact in 2 decades of watching RAID 1 users I've encountered one and only one save. All the other times the other issues killed the owners which were under some impression that RAID 1 meant they could skip backup.

"Hey, it's realtime backup. Right?"

Nothing further from the truth. RAID 5 is preferred since the array can keep working until you have time to replace the failed drive. It still doesn't protect from the more common failures.

Bob

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Another piece of the puzzle
Nov 22, 2006 7:37AM PST

The purpose of the mirrored drive would not be to substitute for a backup solution but a means to keep us live 100% of the time. Good point about the viruses though. I wasn't thinking.

Since RAID 5 acommplishes the same thing and adds the benefit of slightly better performance in most applications (save Exchange for example) - keeping us up 100% of the time then . . . why would anyone elect to use RAID 0 or RAID 1???

As for RAID 5, what is the likelyhood of two drives failing at the same time? Is there another configuration that can answer for that (one of the hybrid RAID configurations like 10, or RAID 6, or maybe RAID 5 w/ more drives?)

Matt

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What RAID 0 or 1.
Nov 22, 2006 7:43AM PST

Price and or speed. It's that simple. RAID 1 is simply not a failover option. That is, I've yet to see a great implementation where it just kicks over and an idiot light comes on to alert you to replace the drive. Besides I'm getting 5 years and more on our server drives so drive failure is rare (nonexistent at the office.) We know to listen and watch for the early signs then look at the S.M.A.R.T. report then take the early actions.

RAID 5 is as good as how well they implement it. The great ones like you tell the RAID that you are going to pull a drive, then without shutdown you hotplug in a new one. Such greatness comes with a price tag.

Hope this helps,

Bob