Should I go RAID 5?

[zylander]

Ive got a Pentium D media server in my basement and Im thinking of setting up a RAID 5 on it. Currently I have an 80gb drive for the OS and the Ive got two 750gb drives and a 1.5tb drive. The 1.5tb drive is going to stay on its own for music, videos, files and what ever else I need to throw on it. I want to put in another 750gb drive and setup a RAID 5 across the three 750's. The array will be used to store DVD, HDDVD and Blu-Ray rips for streaming to my HTPC. Of the two 750gb drives that are currently in the server, one is a Samsung Spinpoint F1 and a Seagate 7200.11. I am not looking for extreme performance, as I said before all this will be used for is streaming to an HTPC. Im just looking for some redundancy and and want to merge everything into one drive instead of having to deal with three different pathways.

My questions are;

1. Will the two drives listed above do alright in a RAID?

2. I was probably going to just grab another 7200.11 or a WD Caviar Black, are these fine?

3. The motherboard in the server is an Intel DQ965GF and I will be using its on board RAID controller. Has anyone heard anything bad about these RAID controllers?

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Onboard RAID5 is a bad idea, IMO
I'm using an ARECA 1220 but you can use a 1210.

I've 6x 1.5TB drives RAID 5. Aside from the Firmware issues the HDDs themselves have had, the ARECA has performed wonderfully.

 

[Madwand1]

It should be fine, but you should not rely on single drives or even RAID arrays by themselves, and have at least the critical data on an external backup in addition.

 

[zylander]

Originally posted by: gersson
Onboard RAID5 is a bad idea, IMO
I'm using an ARECA 1220 but you can use a 1210.

I've 6x 1.5TB drives RAID 5. Aside from the Firmware issues the HDDs themselves have had, the ARECA has performed wonderfully.

What about onboard RAID5 is no good?

Originally posted by: Madwand1
It should be fine, but you should not rely on single drives or even RAID arrays by themselves, and have at least the critical data on an external backup in addition.

yeah Im looking into other backup methods too.

 

[zylander]

Ok so after doing a bit more reading, I am starting to wonder if I should even bother with a RAID setup. All I really want is to be able to see one drive. Im going to have many hard drives in this machine and I do not want to have to deal with three or more pathways. When I stream data, or search for files, I just want to have to look to one path. Is there any way to do this besides RAID?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: zylander
The motherboard in the server is an Intel DQ965GF and I will be using its on board RAID controller. Has anyone heard anything bad about these RAID controllers?

Originally posted by: gersson
Onboard RAID5 is a bad idea, IMO

What about onboard RAID5 is no good?

Asked & Answered :roll:

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: zylander
The motherboard in the server is an Intel DQ965GF and I will be using its on board RAID controller. Has anyone heard anything bad about these RAID controllers?

Originally posted by: gersson
Onboard RAID5 is a bad idea, IMO

What about onboard RAID5 is no good?

Asked & Answered :roll:

Your response is as useless as you make our exchange to be.
I answered as much as I was willing to

 

[boomhower]

You may want to take a look at Windows Home Server. From what you are describing its right up your ally. All disks will appear as one large disk. You choose what you want backed up on multiple drives. Streaming works well. I have a similar set-up and have been very happy with WHS.

 

[imported_wired247]

sounds like a better solution for your JBOD is frequent backups. (WHS not a bad idea either)

if it's just a server you can get away with onboard raid-5 but the performance will be less than stellar... try it for yourself if you like. never give up on something just because someone tells you it's a bad idea.

 

[zylander]

Ill take a look at WHS. Does anyone know if Server 2003 or Server 2008 has the same features as WHS, specifically the ability to make multiple drives appear as one? I oinly ask about them because 2003 and 2008 are available to me for free through Microsoft's DreamSpark since Im a student.