Disk "Stripe" question

[Stan Kay]

My PC has a single SCSI disk and I would like to add a second SCSI disk to
create a striped setup for faster performance. Is there a way to set up a
two disk stripe without losing my existing setup or must I abandon what I
have and re-install the operating system and all my applications?

 

[David H. Lipman]

Don't stripe just mirror the two drives and you won't have to do anything but create the
mirrored pair.

Dave



| My PC has a single SCSI disk and I would like to add a second SCSI disk to
| create a striped setup for faster performance. Is there a way to set up a
| two disk stripe without losing my existing setup or must I abandon what I
| have and re-install the operating system and all my applications?
|
|

 

[R. McCarty]

Would not a mirrored set simply provide redundancy, not performance ?

 

[David H. Lipman]

No. Because by using SCSI both hard disks can be read at the same time. This doubles the
performance on reads. However, it will not improve performance on writes.

Dave



| Would not a mirrored set simply provide redundancy, not performance ?
|
| | > Don't stripe just mirror the two drives and you won't have to do anything
| > but create the
| > mirrored pair.
| >
| > Dave
| >
| >
| >
| > | > | My PC has a single SCSI disk and I would like to add a second SCSI disk
| > to
| > | create a striped setup for faster performance. Is there a way to set up
| > a
| > | two disk stripe without losing my existing setup or must I abandon what
| > I
| > | have and re-install the operating system and all my applications?
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Guest]

as far as I know, a stripe volume needs 2 disks to work, if you want a way to
recover the data.
I would install a second disk and setup a mirrored volume.You will not gain
speed, but you will have a "mirror" incase of disk failure.
Or use a raid 5 setup, that will give you faster access

 

[Stan Kay]

I am looking to use my second disk for the purpose of:-

1. Improving read and write performance
2. Doubling the storage space I have at present.

For these reasons I concluded that a stripe set is the only option. Of
course a Mirror set is easier to set up and will improve read performance
but it does not improve write performance nor does it add capacity. I
accept that RAID 5 offers me everything I want plus redundancy but that
requires a minimum of three disks and I have only two.

Accordingly, it must be a stripe set. I feel 90% certain that a complete
re-install is necessary but before starting am seeking advice from experts
as to whether there is an easy way to set up a stripe set?

 

[David H. Lipman]

Stan:

Your understanding of the situation is FULLY correct.

Dave




| I am looking to use my second disk for the purpose of:-
|
| 1. Improving read and write performance
| 2. Doubling the storage space I have at present.
|
| For these reasons I concluded that a stripe set is the only option. Of
| course a Mirror set is easier to set up and will improve read performance
| but it does not improve write performance nor does it add capacity. I
| accept that RAID 5 offers me everything I want plus redundancy but that
| requires a minimum of three disks and I have only two.
|
| Accordingly, it must be a stripe set. I feel 90% certain that a complete
| re-install is necessary but before starting am seeking advice from experts
| as to whether there is an easy way to set up a stripe set?
|
| | > as far as I know, a stripe volume needs 2 disks to work, if you want a way
| > to
| > recover the data.
| > I would install a second disk and setup a mirrored volume.You will not
| > gain
| > speed, but you will have a "mirror" incase of disk failure.
| > Or use a raid 5 setup, that will give you faster access
| >
| > "Stan Kay" wrote:
| >
| >> My PC has a single SCSI disk and I would like to add a second SCSI disk
| >> to
| >> create a striped setup for faster performance. Is there a way to set up
| >> a
| >> two disk stripe without losing my existing setup or must I abandon what I
| >> have and re-install the operating system and all my applications?
| >>
| >>
| >>
|
|

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am looking to use my second disk for the purpose of:-

1. Improving read and write performance
2. Doubling the storage space I have at present.

For these reasons I concluded that a stripe set is the only option. Of
course a Mirror set is easier to set up and will improve read performance
but it does not improve write performance nor does it add capacity. I
accept that RAID 5 offers me everything I want plus redundancy but that
requires a minimum of three disks and I have only two.

Accordingly, it must be a stripe set. I feel 90% certain that a complete
re-install is necessary but before starting am seeking advice from experts
as to whether there is an easy way to set up a stripe set?

If you really want to, that is what you have to do. I am personally
sceptic as to how much performance increase actually results, and you
should remember that you put the entire storage system at risk if
*either* disk fails