RAID Controller

[NoodleTech]

I have a Dell Poweredge T110 Server. It has a 160GB HD inside which is currently being used for the OS.

I plan to turn this into a file server for a small school and I already purchased 2 1.5TB Western Digital Drives.

I would like to setup RAID 0. Should I buy an add-on controller card or use the integrated one?

 

[nomagic]

A hardware controller card would cost you >$200. Since it is RAID 0 of two disks, there is little reason to buy a hardware controller card for it. I think you should use the integrated solution.

However, I am a little concerned over the choice of RAID level. Wouldn't it be wise to choose a RAID level with at least some level of redundancy?

 

[pjkenned]

If you are doing this for any type of professional storage (i.e. for a small school) don't use Raid 0. Use Raid 1 or Raid 5. Losing 3TB of client data won't be fun when it happens. Also, file server performance wise, you probably won't see much of a difference over a single drive over a single GigE link.

 

[NoodleTech]

The server will mainly be used for archiving and storing video files for a broadcast journalism class, so the data is not mission critical.

How is performance of RAID 5 compared to a single drive? And wouldn't I need 3 drives for RAID 5?

Also, is it possible to run 1 drive (for the OS) with no raid, and attach 3 more drives using RAID 5 (for storage) on the same controller (dell integrated controller)? Or would I need an add in card for that.