People do disagree with me on these points, but I have not been
persuaded by any of their arguments to date:
1. If you want 1TB -AND- performance, buy 2 x 500GB SATA/3G HDDs
and configure them in a RAID 0 array, using an on-board RAID controller;
500GB SATA/3G HDDs are relatively cheap today;
2. Yes, if one of those 2 x 500GB HDDs fails, you do lose all data on the entire
RAID 0 array; but, if a single spindle with 1TB fails, you also lose all that data,
so it's a wash, as far as data loss is concerned;
3. Similarly, if one of the 2 x 500GB HDDs fails, you still need replace the
failed drive, which is exactly what you must do if a single 1TB HDD fails;
replace a drive -or- replace a drive = another "wash";
4. Although 2 x HDDs in RAID 0 will not scale linearly, that RAID 0 array
will be faster than a single 1TB HDD, on average and over time;
5. 5-year warranties are not much more expensive than 3-year warranties,
but "time flies when you're having fun" and 3 years will probably go by
faster than you expect; it's so wonderful to have a factory warranty in
years 4 and 5, when a hard drive is statistically more prone to failure,
assuming it has been in regular use for the first 3 years.
> is eSATA or SATA faster?
They should both conform to the SATA-II "standard" of 300 MB/second,
but the voltage specs for eSATA and internal SATA are different;
eSATA controllers add slightly more voltage to eSATA ports,
so that eSATA cables will not cause signal strength to degrade.
Thus, you may run into problems if you try to add a PCI slot bracket
with eSATA ports, and connect the SATA cables from that bracket
to the main SATA ports on your motherboard. With that combination
of ports and cables, your motherboard's main SATA ports may not
be supplying sufficient voltage to the SATA cables that terminate
at the eSATA ports in that PCI slot bracket.
I believe that the latest P45 chipset has attempted to address
this latter problem, but be sure to do your homework before
doing the wrong thing without intending to.
BEST WAY is to stick with your motherboard's integrated
eSATA port(s) at the rear I/O panel; or, install a good
RAID controller that requires either eSATA cable connections
or Multi-Lane "Infiniband" cables at the rear I/O panel.
One such controller that we've used is the Highpoint
RocketRAID 2322: this controller does NOT come
with Multi-Lane Infiniband cables, so be sure you
purchase the correct cables separately.
Another minor issue, which may create headaches for you,
is to select the correct eSATA cable connector for your
external storage enclosure: some require a matching eSATA
connector, while others require a standard SATA connector
for the port on the external enclosure. We ended up buying
one of each, to cover both possibilities.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, Inventor and
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library
All Rights Reserved without Prejudice
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