Curt Mills wrote: > On Thu, 29 Oct 2009, ML wrote: > > >> My question is about initial setup. The 4 x 1TB drives. How to set >> this up for I have some protection? >> >> RAID 0+1? (striped + mirrored) I would end up with 2TB useable space. >> >> RAID 5? so what one is a hot spare? 3TB useable space? >> >> What about striping the 4 1TB and mirroring that to a 4 x 1tb External >> drive enclosure? >> > > Plan for drives going out but keeping the site operational. Also > remember that RAID isn't a backup. > > RAID 5 is enticing because you get more usable space out of your > drives, but you have to be sure you'll only lose one drive at a time > and can get a replacement drive in there and sync'ed up before you > lose a 2nd one... If the drives were made by the same manufacturer > and were bought at about the same time you might easily lose 2 or > more, blowing up your array. > > Right. The problem with 1TB drives (and really, any modern drive with decent capacity) is that you're vulnerable until that array finishes rebuilding-- a process that's taking longer and longer. I'd go with the RAID10 solution that someone previously posited. By the time you outgrow that, you should really plan for a SAN/NAS solution anyway... -- Corey / KB1JWQ