-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Jordan Peacock wrote: > Well, after much looking and research I've determined to put together a > 4-disk SATA external enclosure, and use RAID 5 to get 3/4 of the capacity > with a parity drive. > > Anybody done the same, and if so, what would you recommend for an enclosure? > How is the power consumption typically? Any pros/cons I should concern > myself with? > > Primary system will be a Linux box, drives will likely be formatted as ext2 > or 3. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list I just built a dedicated 2.5TB file system, parts I used: 6 x 500gb seagate sata2 16mb cache drives ($130 each) 1 x mg-sa3541 8-port sata2 pci-x jbod card (doesn't not do hardware raid) ($139) 1 amd mobo combo from microcenter with 1 gb ram http://cps7.00b.net/498/content_load/523/enews0110view.html (i chose the dual core amd for $107) 1 additional 1gb of ram for a total of 2gb of ram - (addtional stick $29) 1 antec case http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0246524 ( was on sale for $59) 1 cooler master ps http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0258432 ( was on sale for $30) so total cost: $1144 i can't believe how cheap hardware has gotten, and with mail in rebates you can save another %15-30 per item if you get them at the right time. and another %30 if you get them on sale. the disks were by far the most expensive, but i went with seagate as they have a 5yr warranty and i have always had very good luck with them. i know own 18 of the 500gb seagate sata2 disks across 6 systems, and haven't had any issues with any of them for over a year now. (knock on wood) i choose to go with software raid (raid5), primarily to keep the cost down, i know it would of only added another couple hundred, but with the processor speeds these days and the excellent throughput of disks and the jbod controller, i don't really think i'm missing much. plus, unless you go with hot plug caddy/disk system, your aren't really able to take advantage of the hot recovery options in a raid card anyway. the case i chose was simple - it was a 10bay system, on sale, and after looking into it, it has a lot of large fans. it includes two disk drive enclosures that each contain 3 disks, and provide a dedicated fan for each enclosure. so my drives will be nice and cool. a year ago i built another file server and didn't get enough fans in it, and the disks were getting too hot, which required me to purchase disk drive mounted fans. which has worked but not the way i wanted it to. i'm thinking i'll move that file server into a new antec nine hundred case the next time they go on sale. anyway, this worked for me - as always, with linux there are hundreds of ways to do things. i was going to use an old dual p3-500 mobo, but when i saw i could upgrade to a dual core for $100 - that is pretty much a no brainer. so concerns would be cooling. make sure your drives have enough cooling and airflow - if not, you'll be replacing them left and right. good luck! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFHiM80vE9HrEfeE4cRAuVtAKCf9sxUDgpPdPsOb1XeDbU6TxUOcQCgjbym 7BPlYNcsPJkpaqdBeNTomUQ= =/458 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----