SATA RAID5 disk replacement: same type of disk?

[Richard NL]

Hello all,
I have a SATA RAID 5 drive arrangement and am looking for a spare disk.

Does the spare disk need to be exactly the same type or can I get away with
something "close"?

This is a Dell Poweredge 1800 server, CERC SATA1.5 RAID controller
RAID5 of 3x Maxtor 6Y160M0 disks.

I can locally get the Maxtor 6L160M0 disks, but not sure if those will work
reliably with the existing ones.

Anyone have a clue? Or a link?

Is there a FAQ for this group BTW?

TIA,
Ries.

 

[Peter]

Hello all,
I have a SATA RAID 5 drive arrangement and am looking for a spare disk.

Does the spare disk need to be exactly the same type or can I get away with
something "close"?

This is a Dell Poweredge 1800 server, CERC SATA1.5 RAID controller
RAID5 of 3x Maxtor 6Y160M0 disks.

I can locally get the Maxtor 6L160M0 disks, but not sure if those will work
reliably with the existing ones.

Anyone have a clue? Or a link?

Is there a FAQ for this group BTW?

Do you have a support contract with Dell?

 

[Richard NL]

Hi Peter,
yes we do.
Dell wants us to buy their drives (6Y160M0) which are about 3-4 times the
price of the ones we can get locally.
Since we want 3 or 4 drives, that becomes a significant amount.
We could replace the entire diskset for the price of a replacement disk..

Ries.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: SATA RAID5 disk replacement: same type of disk?

 

[Peter]

Hi Peter,
yes we do.
Dell wants us to buy their drives (6Y160M0) which are about 3-4 times the
price of the ones we can get locally.
Since we want 3 or 4 drives, that becomes a significant amount.
We could replace the entire diskset for the price of a replacement disk..

But if you buy locally, you will lose Dell support. It all boils down to how
important business you run on that RAID.
And politics too; if you install locally purchased HD, but RAID fails in a
few months, can you get away with it?

 

[Richard NL]

Peter,
thank for the thoughts, but these are meant to be spare disks. Cold spares.
I prefer Euro 80 spares over EURO 300 cold spares.
The question is: will those work reliably?

Ries.

 

[Odie Ferrous]

Peter,
thank for the thoughts, but these are meant to be spare disks. Cold spares.
I prefer Euro 80 spares over EURO 300 cold spares.
The question is: will those work reliably?

Ries.

Maxtor are the very worst drives you can get hold of at the moment.

Just don't.

Replace them all with Seagates. 120GB or 300GB. Can't recommend
anything else. (Have had some excellent experiences with Seagate 500GB
drives, but not quite sufficient to form an opinion.)

Even new (as in this month's current model) Hitachi drives are far
preferable to Maxtors. Avoid Western Digital, as well. Can't really
comment on Samsung, as I don't yet have sufficient data on them. To be
announced in the next few months...)



Odie

 

[Arno Wagner]

Can't really
comment on Samsung, as I don't yet have sufficient data on them. To be
announced in the next few months...)

Looking forward to that. My impression of Samsung is pretty good
so far.

Arno

 

[Toshi1873]

But if you buy locally, you will lose Dell support. It all boils down to how
important business you run on that RAID.
And politics too; if you install locally purchased HD, but RAID fails in a
few months, can you get away with it?

Assuming the original array is still under warranty, buy the additional
drive from Dell. That way you don't lose the warranty.

 

[Odie Ferrous]

Assuming the original array is still under warranty, buy the additional
drive from Dell. That way you don't lose the warranty.

You're advocating replacing maxtor drives with maxtor drives?


Odie

 

[J. Clarke]

You're advocating replacing maxtor drives with maxtor drives?

He's advocating making it Dell's problem to deal with.