HDDs for my Storage/Backup server

[el-Capitan]

Planning to undust my Q9300 with 6GB to run WHS2011.

Thinking of 3x2TB WDC Reds. Is this a good choice? performance is not an issue as all transfer will be capped by 1Gb LAN and there will be max 2 clients at a time who'd try and max that. Reliability is.

OS will be installed on a separate HDD. The Reds will be put into a RAID5 by WHS.

Purpose is to provide storage for non-crit files and to take incremental backups of Win7/OSX machines.

1. Are the Reds a good choice?
2. If I plug in another SATA controller will WHS allow me to add them to my existing three drive RAID?

 

[Elixer]

Reds haven't been around that long, so hard to tell how reliable they are.

In fact, it is really hard to tell if any HD post-floods is reliable or not. Just not enough info yet.

 

[blastingcap]

Raid5 not that safe try raid6.

 

[el-Capitan]

Appreciate the advice on RAID6, but that would be overkill for my needs. A 'good' chance in restoring my data upon a drive fail is sufficient enough for my non-crit stuff.

Any other suggestions on what drives to choose? The 3TB reds are being offered for as low at $175 - not bad I'd say.

 

[kmmatney]

"1. Are the Reds a good choice?
2. If I plug in another SATA controller will WHS allow me to add them to my existing three drive RAID?"

Everything so far shows that Reds are very good.

For question #2, these guys had success, but it doesn't sound easy:

http://homeservershow.com/dual-raid...2011-and-adding-drives-to-a-raid-5-array.html

I'm running WHS v1, and drive extender makes life so much easier - add and remove drives whenever you want, any type or size. I'll probably replace it with Windows 8 so I can use Storage Spaces in the future.

 

[el-Capitan]

"1. Are the Reds a good choice?
2. If I plug in another SATA controller will WHS allow me to add them to my existing three drive RAID?"

Everything so far shows that Reds are very good.

For question #2, these guys had success, but it doesn't sound easy:

http://homeservershow.com/dual-raid...2011-and-adding-drives-to-a-raid-5-array.html

I'm running WHS v1, and drive extender makes life so much easier - add and remove drives whenever you want, any type or size. I'll probably replace it with Windows 8 so I can use Storage Spaces in the future.

Thanks. I had read that link before. Deal there is that they are all connected to the same Intel controller. My motherboard only comes with 4 ports, so any additional would have to come through a Highpoint or similar....

It appears this will not be possible via WHS. I think I'll just have to opt for 3TB drives for now.

I read about Spaces too, however I would miss out on the easy way to back up my Win7 clients. Have you got a good solution for that?