Storage Configuration Questions

[bennyfofenny]

I'm building a desktop server and I was wondering what kind of storage configuration I should have. I want to have several TBs of storage in RAID 5. How important would it be to have a fast (and small) boot drive? And what advantages and disadvantages would there be?
thx 😀

 

[pjkenned]

Not so many advantages. My server reboots only for patches. Realistically, servers tend to run 24x7 so the boot drive is fairly inconsequential. Actually, I ran FreeNAS off of a OCZ USB stick (see Supermicro X8SIL-F internal USB header) for a bit and it worked great.

 

[bennyfofenny]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess in that case, it would make sense to spend less on the boot drive and use it for puting more HDDs in the RAID configuration. Is there an advantage for having the boot drive seperate from the rest of the storage?

 

[Rifter]

I always run a small boot drive/USB stick as the OS drive, that way if the raid array goes bonkers on you then you can still boot and try and fix it from the server.

 

[pjkenned]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess in that case, it would make sense to spend less on the boot drive and use it for puting more HDDs in the RAID configuration. Is there an advantage for having the boot drive seperate from the rest of the storage?

What Rifterut said. Personally, I just find it easier to manage when you have lots of drives.