Ultra 3 SCSI controller card and a RAID5 question

[twharry]

Quick and stupid question...

I just bought a pair of SCSI hard drives. They are 15k rpm Ultra3 drives. I would like to set them up in a RAID1 (with the possibility of perhaps going to a RAID5 if I can get a few more for a good price).

Can I get an Ultra320 controller card, or do I have to use U160?

Also, do the drives have to be the same to run a RAID5, or can they be different?

Thanks in advance.

 

[imported_Kensai]

U320 is backwards compatible with U160.
They'll just run at the slower capacities size.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

The above poster is 100% correct. I just wanted to add that RAID 5 is a great way to go because if one drive decides to take a dump on you, just pop it out and throw a new one in. Array will rebuild and no downtime at all!

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
The above poster is 100% correct. I just wanted to add that RAID 5 is a great way to go because if one drive decides to take a dump on you, just pop it out and throw a new one in. Array will rebuild and no downtime at all!

RAID 5 is my god. Gotta love parity data.

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: Kensai
They'll just run at the slower capacities size.

?? What does that mean?

just pop it out and throw a new one in. Array will rebuild and no downtime at all!

Not true. This only works with 80pin SCSI connected to backplanes and supporting controllers. You cannot normally hot swap 68pin SCSI. If you have a hot spare connected to the array, then the array will automatically rebuild with no down time, but that also means you have an extra drive doing nothing the whole time unless something goes wrong on top of the drive in RAID 5 lost to parity.