[WriteLog] Writelog file concerns

sysop at bfdin.com sysop at bfdin.com
Tue Jan 28 09:13:22 EST 2003 

Will RAID work on IDE drives?  I thought it was for SCSI only?

- Bill N3LLR

RI>Just a couple of comments, although the documentation for any RAID
RI>controller should point a lot of this out.

RI>1) RAID stands for Redundant Array of Individual Disks.  There are several
RI>   different types of RAID schemes, the most common being the following
RI>        RAID 0 - striping data across 2 or more disks
RI>        RAID 1 - mirroring data across 2 disks
RI>        RAID 5 - striping data across disks, with parity (min of 3 disks).
RI>   I could go on here, but realistically, this is what you tend to run
RI>   into the most on the market place.

RI>2) For the home user the cheapest, most hassle-free would probably
RI>   be RAID 1, or mirroring.  Cheap - because you only need one more disk
RI>   to do it.  Hassle-free - because if you had to you can "break" a "mirror
RI>   set" and use the surviving disk alone.  If you replace a disk that breaks
RI>   the controller will "rebuild" the mirror set when the new disks is put
RI>in.
RI>   This can be time consuming (hours if you are also using your machine),
RI>but
RI>   at least in the end you have "protected" data again.

RI>3) STAY AWAY from RAID 0.  This is simple striping.  Think of it this way,
RI>   your two 6GB drives are combined into a single 12GB drive (as far as your
RI>   operating system is concerned), but the controller "stripes" the data
RI>   across the two surfaces in chunks of, let's say, 32K bytes.  If you lose
RI>   one drive you have a lost ALL your data.  Striping is most often done for
RI>   (READ) performance.

RI>4) Some good info can be found at:
RI>http://www.compinfo-center.com/stor/raid.htm.

RI>I should also mention that some people would argue with me that RAID 5 is a
RI>better way to go, since you get good READ speeds and slightly more storage
RI>for the $buck.  And their arguments are very valid in a lot of
RI>circumstances.

RI>However, for the home user RAID 1 is better because even if the controller
RI>were to break there is at least a chance that the one of the disks can just
RI>be put on the default controller of the mother board.

RI>Cheers,
RI>-ricK7log


RI>-----Original Message-----
RI>From: writelog-bounces at contesting.com
RI>[mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Jerry Flanders
RI>Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 3:26 AM
RI>To: Julian Cleak; writelog at contesting.com
RI>Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog file concerns


RI>The last motherboards I purchased (in Sept 2002) had RAID capability
RI>built-in. I haven't implemented it (my luck with HDs has been pretty good
RI>over the years), but it is there in some modern motherboards for those who
RI>feel it is helpful. Price for this MB was similar to the others the dealer
RI>had in stock, so the RAID feature had no real extra cost (other than the
RI>price of the additional HD required to make it all work).

RI>RAID has several features, among which is redundant data storage on the
RI>second HD- a single failing HD will not necessarily shut you down. Details
RI>at:
RI>http://www.msi.com.tw/html/e_service/techexpress/tech_column/raid/raid_1.htm

RI>Jerry W4UK

RI>At 10:52 1/28/03 +0000, Julian Cleak wrote:
RI>>Hi Bill
RI>>
RI>>In my limited experience of Computers the two most unreliable components in
RI>>the base unit are the PSU and the HDD, different makes have different
RI>common
RI>>faults.
RI>>Fuji for example have a nasty habit of not being recognised by the system
RI>>bios where as Seagate go into clunking mode, Maxtor drives seen to just
RI>spin
RI>>up and stay running with no access to them. These are just some of the
RI>>problems we get here in the uk. We have tried lots of different
RI>manufactures
RI>>from lots of different suppliers but seems to make no difference. 1 yr
RI>seems
RI>>to be the critical time of operation hear. I did a report to our buyers
RI>>when tenders were due for renewal and our records showed that 78% of HDD
RI>>failures happened within 2 months of being 1 yr old.
RI>>I think that the only answer to the HDD problem is to make regular backups
RI>>and, or fit a second HDD and keep duplicate files. I always tell our
RI>clients
RI>>that we can replace the programme files but the data files can cost up to
RI>>1000 to retrieve, a CD-RW is about 30.
RI>>
RI>>              Best of Luck
RI>>
RI>>                      Julian
RI>>----- Original Message -----
RI>>From: "Bill Turner" <w7ti at dslextreme.com>
RI>>To: <kk9a at arrl.net>
RI>>Cc: "'WriteLog'" <writelog at contesting.com>
RI>>Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 6:18 PM
RI>>Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog file concerns
RI>>
RI>>
RI>> > On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 16:07:25 -0000, <kk9a at arrl.net> wrote:
RI>> >
RI>> > >What happens if my hard drive fails?
RI>> >
RI>> > _________________________________________________________
RI>> >
RI>> > This isn't quite the answer to your question, but I believe the best
RI>> > solution is not to have a hard drive failure in the first place.
RI>> >
RI>> > HD's are so inexpensive anymore, I think the best medicine is to replace
RI>> > them every couple of years or so before they get to the point of
RI>> > failure.  Modern HD's are amazingly reliable - when they are new.  I
RI>> > have had a couple of HD crashes in my ten years of computing, and they
RI>> > were both on drives that had several years of use on them.  HD's seem to
RI>> > be good for around 3-5 years of ordinary use, so change them every two
RI>> > years or so and you should be ok.
RI>> >
RI>> > Incidentally, there are removable HD fixtures now that allow you to swap
RI>> > a HD in about ten seconds.  I just bought several of them on eBay for
RI>> > $6.99 each.  Put all your contesting software on a new HD and only use
RI>> > it for contests.  Something to think about.
RI>> >
RI>> > 73, Bill W7TI
RI>> >
RI>> >
RI>> > _______________________________________________
RI>> > WriteLog mailing list
RI>> > WriteLog at contesting.com
RI>> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
RI>> >
RI>>
RI>>_______________________________________________
RI>>WriteLog mailing list
RI>>WriteLog at contesting.com
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