Reliable SATA RAID-1 with P4C800E Deluxe ?

[Giobibo]

I need a reliable small business server for a 24/7 task.
Speed and performance are not an issue, but reliability and budget are
the central point.

The idea is a P4C800E Deluxe board and two harddisks WD Raptor WD360GD
in RAID-1 array.

I have read a lot of good thinks about the Raptor especially for 24/7
activity and small business task.
But I do not know how can perform the onboard promise controller with
the RAID-1 and its reliability vs. a more expensive SCSI solution.

Any suggestion?

Thank you for replying.

 

[Mercury]

Look for Hotswap and email alerts. I don't think you will find either in a
built in controller.

Be aware that there is no such thing as a 24 / 7 system. There are *none*.
You may get 99.999% up time with good management... It is best to plan
outage window allowances eg x * y minutes per annum at random off peak times
to enable you to do patching & reboot, upgrades, check / replace fans, psu,
clean, test etc.

I have several systems running like that using raptors on adaptec sata raid
in 1u racks. If a machine fails, it gets swapped out with a spare - hdd's
get swapped manually.

 

[Michael S.]

I used RAID 1 for a month before returning to RAID 0 (same mobo and paired
Raptors) and both RAIDs work great--BUT I use the Intel controller.

Just curious--why would you rather use the Promise controller rather than
disabling it in BIOS and use the Intel controller for RAID 1??

MikeSp

 

[John McCoy]

Why did you go to RAID 0?

John

I used RAID 1 for a month before returning to RAID 0 (same mobo and paired
Raptors) and both RAIDs work great--BUT I use the Intel controller.

Just curious--why would you rather use the Promise controller rather than
disabling it in BIOS and use the Intel controller for RAID 1??

MikeSp

 

[Michael S.]

John--it was out of the quest for speed and the ignorance that even using
Raptors in RAID 0 that the increase in speed for my applications would be
miniscule at best. In this new computer build (6 months ago) I had to try
both RAID 1 and RAID 0 and at that time, RAID 0 was being hyped a lot and I
tend (sometimes) to be gullible;-)

The next time I fdisk the main hard drives and start over (when it is time
in another year), I WILL go back to RAID 1.

MikeSp
----------------------------------------------------

 

[John McCoy]

Yeah, from what I read the speed was negligible and your rate of failure
increases. I think RAID 1 makes more sense.

Thanks for the reply