RAID cards and single drives

[Timothy Daniels]

Can a lone HD (i.e. not part of a RAID array) be connected to
a PCI RAID card and be used for say, backups, and not be
part of striping/mirroring grouping? (I'd otherwise have to use
a separate IDE controller card for the backup HD.)

*TimDaniels*

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <<[email protected]>> "Timothy Daniels"

Can a lone HD (i.e. not part of a RAID array) be connected to
a PCI RAID card and be used for say, backups, and not be
part of striping/mirroring grouping? (I'd otherwise have to use
a separate IDE controller card for the backup HD.)

Most RAID cards have a non-RAID mode as well.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Most RAID cards have a non-RAID mode as well.

The need is for both modes to work at the same
time, although on different channels. Are there cards
in which the non-RAID mode can work for one channel
while the other channel works in RAID mode? The
thought is to use 2 HDs for RAID-1 and another HD
for periodic system backups from the RAID-1 drives..

*TimDaniels*

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <<[email protected]>> "Timothy Daniels"

The need is for both modes to work at the same
time, although on different channels. Are there cards
in which the non-RAID mode can work for one channel
while the other channel works in RAID mode? The
thought is to use 2 HDs for RAID-1 and another HD
for periodic system backups from the RAID-1 drives..

IIRC, my Promise TX 4000 can do so, as can one of my onboard highpoint
RAID controllers. I'm booting from a non-RAID drive, and use a RAID-1
array for storing my mail server's data.

 

[kony]

The need is for both modes to work at the same
time, although on different channels. Are there cards
in which the non-RAID mode can work for one channel
while the other channel works in RAID mode? The
thought is to use 2 HDs for RAID-1 and another HD
for periodic system backups from the RAID-1 drives..

*TimDaniels*

The channel-position isn't a limitation.
You can define any drives as any RAID mode supported then define the
single drive as a 1-drive stripe or span... Stripe would only be
compatible with that controller or "maybe" another very similar from same
manufacturer, but spans can usually be moved to any IDE controller, making
a single-drive span the better choice.... if it's valuable data test that
yourself, that it'll work in the intended recovery situation.

However, your plan to put the non-RAIDed, single drive alone on the
"other" channel might be improved performancewise by putting the two
drives in the RAID array on opposing channels then putting the
single-drive on either channel.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Thanks, guys! I was worried that I'd have to use
2 PCI cards - one for the RAID drives, one for the
backup/archive drive.

*TimDaniels*