SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

[ratdude747]

I have a 3ware 9500 4 port raid card in my current system and in the future I am thinking of finding 2-3 used SATA drives to build a RAID 0 array. Currently, I am using a single 320gb WD caviar blue, which will not do RAID from what I understand.

So, in the world of used SATA hdds, which ones are good candidates for RAID and long term relaibility? I do know that the seagate 7200.7 series is bad (I've had 2 of 3 drives die, the 3rd rarely sees use).

On a side note, is there any place where one could get really short SATA cables? as in 3"-5" long? My case is such that the hdds are right next to the controller...

[shovenose]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

used SATA drives to build a RAID 0 array.

Bad idea.

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

Bad idea.

well, with a RAID card and 3 HDD bays, what else could I do?

if I had 4 bays. then I'd raid 01 or 10 it... but I only have 3.

There is Raid 1, but really? I take backups of anything important on my external hdd / server...

[Uranium-235]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

your hard drive can do raid, there are some drives that are manufactured with optimizations for it...

and there are a few hard drives that have firmware problems that might cause issues in certain raid configurations. Raid 1 is probably one of the most compatible. 5 and other parity striping usually the least

wish I would of rma'd a wd blue 320 I had but I believe its out of warranty

if you want raid 0 optimized drives go for the WD RE series, but they're expensive, black would probably work too

[smason]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

RAID 0 with SATA is a recipe for data loss, unless you get drives with TLER or equivalent.

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

I was wondering if perhaps seagates had more flexible firmware?

also

would maxtor maxline 5 250gb units be any good? I have one in my imac g5 that never sees use... I could always swap them if needed...

about raid 0 data loss- I understand the risks... but I also understand that my main system is not mission critical... all of my really important things are done on my laptop (collge stuff). To me, it is like overclocking- there is a risk but also a return.

[Uranium-235]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

RAID 0 with SATA is a recipe for data loss, unless you get drives with TLER or equivalent.

where do you come up with this? I've seen this done ALOT with sata, never ran into data loss other then when a drive crashes

and he also has a hardware controller...should he use PATA? I've used raid 0 on a vtrak 15100 on drives that do not support TLER and was perfect

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

its also SATA controller... a 3ware 9500s-4lp to be exact (supports SATA-150, fast enough to keep up with most HDDs).

[momaka]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

I do know that the seagate 7200.7 series is bad (I've had 2 of 3 drives die, the 3rd rarely sees use).

3 drives isn't a whole lot, you know. Perhaps just bad luck on your part. The 7200.7 is actually one of the most reliable series.

We have about 100-120 computers at my old work, and most of them (probably about 3/4, if not more) still have these 7200.7 drives (the IDE version, though). Sure a handful of them have started developing bad sectors, but they are all still working reliably. In the 2 years that I was working there (part time), we've had exactly only 3 drop out. Now don't forget that most of these drives are over 5 years old, most with 8+ hours/day workload (some even 24/7 or close). That's a pretty good record if you ask me.

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

I see... out of my 3, 2 were 80gb IDE drives and one was a 160gb SATA:

80gb #1- came in an HP d530 tower, handed around to a few differnt boxes before it ended up in an eMac, where it currently exists.

80gb #2- came from a used goodwill-found external enclosure. placed in the d530 for a while before it was put in a shuttle XPC box, where it died. It caused randome computer issues, which were fixed when a new HDD was installed. Since it was in an aluminum enclosure, it is possible that the harsh enviorment may have contributed to its lifespan.

160gb SATA- bought used from a computer shop to go in a "Newly aquired" Imac G5. Also caused random issues, which were corrected upon replacement of the HDD.

The two dead ones had the exact same symptoms... random issues... but no other signs (noises, etc). I still have both drives in runnable condition, but unless there is a "magic" FW update, they are likely trashed.

[Wrog]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

well, with a RAID card and 3 HDD bays, what else could I do?

if I had 4 bays. then I'd raid 01 or 10 it... but I only have 3.

There is Raid 1, but really? I take backups of anything important on my external hdd / server...

RAID 5 can use 3 drives.

[Uranium-235]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

RAID 5 can use 3 drives.

raid 5 uses a MINIMUM of 3 drives, and since he has a hardware sata card, there is no way to raid 5 with some pata drives without using windows/linux software raid

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

raid 5 uses a MINIMUM of 3 drives, and since he has a hardware sata card, there is no way to raid 5 with some pata drives without using windows/linux software raid

???

why would I want PATA drives? They are cheaper but it would undermien the whole point of using my hardware RAID card.

In addition, my card doesn't have a BBU installed, nor do I have space for one w/o moving the card to from the 100mhz to the 66mhz slot (If it makes a difference in the case of the 9500), so RAID 5 is out, as without a BBU, the write hole becomes an issue; the chances of a hard reset are quite high compared to a the chances of a HDD failure.

[Mad_Professor]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

???

why would I want PATA drives? They are cheaper but it would undermien the whole point of using my hardware RAID card.

In addition, my card doesn't have a BBU installed, nor do I have space for one w/o moving the card to from the 100mhz to the 66mhz slot (If it makes a difference in the case of the 9500), so RAID 5 is out, as without a BBU, the write hole becomes an issue; the chances of a hard reset are quite high compared to a the chances of a HDD failure.

uh.... Battery backup? fsync?

mdadm is very stable, unless you have hardware issues. I'm running a mdadm raid 5 and I recently had the whole array drop out because of that shitty p5n-d and quadcore combo. Luckily nothing was being written and I was able to force the array to assemble and I haven't come across any damaged data yet.

[momaka]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

80gb #1- came in an HP d530 tower, handed around to a few differnt boxes before it ended up in an eMac, where it currently exists.

80gb #2- came from a used goodwill-found external enclosure. placed in the d530 for a while before it was put in a shuttle XPC box, where it died. It caused randome computer issues, which were fixed when a new HDD was installed. Since it was in an aluminum enclosure, it is possible that the harsh enviorment may have contributed to its lifespan.

160gb SATA- bought used from a computer shop to go in a "Newly aquired" Imac G5. Also caused random issues, which were corrected upon replacement of the HDD.

See, that's the problem with used drives - you don't know how they were handled (read: likely thrown around). All of the machines I mentioned above were either new or second hand bought in bulk (but usually handled well).

If you haven't done so already, check (and even post, if you like) the SMART logs of those drives.

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

See, that's the problem with used drives - you don't know how they were handled (read: likely thrown around). All of the machines I mentioned above were either new or second hand bought in bulk (but usually handled well).

If you haven't done so already, check (and even post, if you like) the SMART logs of those drives.

IIRC the 80gb had bad sectors, and that was the only thing that SMART indicated as being bad. the other drive I never checked...

uh.... Battery backup? fsync?

mdadm is very stable, unless you have hardware issues. I'm running a mdadm raid 5 and I recently had the whole array drop out because of that shitty p5n-d and quadcore combo. Luckily nothing was being written and I was able to force the array to assemble and I haven't come across any damaged data yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_5#...k_failure_rate

w/o a BBU, if you have a power outage or the like, there is a decent chance that the write hole could occur... there is usually 1-4 power outages a year around here... so that could be a real issue.

[shovenose]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

iirc the 80gb had bad sectors, and that was the only thing that smart indicated as being bad. The other drive i never checked...





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/raid_5#...k_failure_rate

w/o a bbu, if you have a power outage or the like, there is a decent chance that the write hole could occur... There is usually 1-4 power outages a year around here... So that could be a real issue.

ups ftw

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

ups ftw

Don't have one...

[gerg]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

http://blog.techally.com/2011/04/3wa...e-hard-drives/

there is a good chance that you should stay away from seagate drives for this setup

I had these issues it took me a long time to figure out what was going on.

[ratdude747]

Re: SATA RAID Hdd suggestions

http://blog.techally.com/2011/04/3wa...e-hard-drives/

there is a good chance that you should stay away from seagate drives for this setup

I had these issues it took me a long time to figure out what was going on.

Sounds more like one should update the HDD firmware first... Plus that is a 9650SE specific issue; I have a 9500s.