Les Mikesell wrote: > On 2/22/2010 8:48 AM, Bowie Bailey wrote: > >> Stephen Harris wrote: >> >>>> 1. Get a good size case, mobo, processor, etc and put 8 hard drives it in and RAID them. (yes an 8 port SATA mobo). Running CentOS. >>>> >>>> or >>>> >>>> 2. Get an eSATA enclosure that has room for 8 or 10 drives and just connect it to box? >>>> >>>> >>> My recommendation is the 2nd option. I ran the first for a couple of years >>> and was always suffering disk failures because you really really need good >>> air-flow to keep that many disks cool. >>> >> If you're going to raid together than many disks, you've got to keep >> them cool, which a standard case (no matter now many drive slots it has) >> generally doesn't do very well. My recommendation would be to get a >> Supermicro case or something similar that is designed for raid. >> > > > The trayless hotswap enclosures that others have suggested that fit in > the space where 5" drives would go generally have their own cooling > fans. I've used a unit from Startech and swapped one of the drives out > of a raid weekly for an off-site rotation without any trouble for over a > year now. You do need a big tower case that could take 5" drives all > the way down, but it's nicer than having cables and power off to an > odd-sized external box and very handy to not have to open the case to > trade drives once it is set up. If this is a single-user PC or even a > media server for a few people at once you probably don't have to worry > about extreme speed issues and would get along fine with an > 8-port PCI-X or -E card. > True, and I'm using a trayless hotswap enclosure for off-site backups myself. What I like about the Supermicro cases is that everything is there and you don't have to worry about it. Everything is hotswap, the SATA is already there to support the drives, and it has plenty of cooling and power (frequently redundant power supplies). It is a bit more expensive to go that route, but you know everything is solid. -- Bowie