How to configure drives?

[Christobevii3]

Alright, I'm about to redo my system so that i have a safer storage array that will allow me to move systems later. I am phasing my 400GB drives out of storage and into the operating system drives and will be purchasing 1TB drives to build a storage array with.

What I have:
6 port onboard sata raid controller
3ware 9650 8 port pci-e raid card
4x400GB drives
320GB drive

What I'm acquiring:
1TB drives

How should I set this up?

Boot: Possibly raid the 400's into 0+1 or get some used 74GB raptors and do 0+1.

Swap: 320GB drive? Or just leave it on the boot array

Storage: Should I do one giant raid 6 array, starting with 5 drives and expanding out to 8, or do two separate 4 drive raid 5 setups?

This will mainly be for sharing movies on the storage array to my xbox 360 and doesn't need to be super fast, but power usage would probably be a consideration so the western digitals will probably be used.

What would you do? Thanks

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

If this is a file server type machine, then I prefer to use small drives for boot (ie < 137gb) so that 48-bit LBA issues never arise with installations. After that, RAID 6 all the storage drives, and have another volume (softRAID possibly) for backup. That's assuming your OS & RAID controller have no problems with arrays larger than 2tb.

 

[Christobevii3]

It will also be used as a regular computer with some gaming. Like i said with the "file server" function, it is mainly storage and only streaming movies so it isn't really going to be sharing to any users unless i need to grab something from my laptop.

 

[Christobevii3]

Anyone else?

 

[Christobevii3]

Alright, have 4, possibly 5 1TB drives now. Should I do raid 5 and expand it out to 8 drives, two raid 5's of 4 drives each over time, or one giant raid 6 with 8 drives expanded to that over time?

Also, any recommendations on an 8 drive external enclosure? Thanks