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5th drive...

T

tonyalexander

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
14
0
I know that a 5th SATA drive can take the place of the secondary optical slot but I'm wondering if anything additional is required to install this drive (I'm still waiting for my new system as many here are as well :). My plan is to get 5 x 750 GB and set up a four-drive 0+1 with the extra drive as the Time Machine backup (with an additional external CCC bootable copy every week or so and stored off-site). I've ordered the RAID card installed so the 0+1 is no issue (my boot drive will be a partition on the RAID - yes, I've looked at a 1 (boot) + 3 x RAID5 and come to the conclusion a 4-drive 0+1 with adequate backup is my best option).

So my question is only specific to any extra cabling and/or hardware/software needs of using the 5th drive option. Will I need extra mounting hardware? Anything else?

Thanks in advance!

Tony
 
Dont do raid 0+1.

If you insist going that route go raid 1+0. Better redundancey. Raid10 can survive 2 disk failure (of four) if they are from the same stripe,raid 0+1 only one.

But if you have bought the raid card it would be quite dumb to go raid10?
Go for raid5. More space,faster (?) and I would guess it has faster buildup if one disk dies.
 
Macinposh said:
Dont do raid 0+1.

If you insist going that route go raid 1+0. Better redundancey. Raid10 can survive 2 disk failure (of four) if they are from the same stripe,raid 0+1 only one.

But if you have bought the raid card it would be quite dumb to go raid10?
Go for raid5. More space,faster (?) and I would guess it has faster buildup if one disk dies.
Click to expand...

I realize the advantages of 1+0, but I didn't think this Apple RAID card could do this. I'd love to be wrong though. I figured with the two extra backups - one for versioning (internal Time Machine) and one for redundancy (SuperDuper bootable drive), I'd still be covered.

From what I've experienced 0+1 or 1+0 gives some speed boosts all-around (especially in write) when compared to RAID 5. Am I mistaken?

- Tony
 
The raid card definately should do it, as the software raid does it (I have it that way)?!

What do you mean by "extra backups"? You have external drive backups or do you have some other scheme?


And for the performance, sorry,havent seen any first hand tests on that,so I cant comment. But if I remember right,with software raid10 I had something like 120-150Mb/s read write speeds. With hardware card I would guess that they could be in the 150-170Mb/s? About the same as the raid5,at least in read.
So if you are not utterly dependant on fast read/write (in wich case you would go for raid0), go for raid5. Raid10 is not a economical solution space wise.
 
Macinposh said:
The raid card definately should do it, as the software raid does it (I have it that way)?!

What do you mean by "extra backups"? You have external drive backups or do you have some other scheme?


And for the performance, sorry,havent seen any first hand tests on that,so I cant comment. But if I remember right,with software raid10 I had something like 120-150Mb/s read write speeds. With hardware card I would guess that they could be in the 150-170Mb/s? About the same as the raid5,at least in read.
So if you are not utterly dependant on fast read/write (in wich case you would go for raid0), go for raid5. Raid10 is not a economical solution space wise.
Click to expand...

My bootable backup will be external and stored off-site (weekly) while the versioning backup (Time Machine) will hopefully be in-box on the 5th drive. I'm hoping someone can let me know what, if any, extra mounting hardware I need to set that up.

I've gone back and forth as to the RAID5 or RAID1+0/0+1 and come to the conclusion that 0+1/1+0 will work out best for me - even with the 33% loss in storage efficiency.

Thanks for the help Macinposh! :)

Can anyone help with the question about hardware needer for the 5th drive mount in the extra optical bay?
 
tonyalexander said:
Can anyone help with the question about hardware needer for the 5th drive mount in the extra optical bay?
Click to expand...


Sorry,forgot to answer to that one...

1. Short 4pin molex power cable to power the sata drive (from the cable that runs to the dvd drive).

2.60cm sata cable. One end is straight and the other is 90´.

3.Thin nosed angle pliers (90´ angle) to insert the 90´ end of the sata cable to the mobo´s side. With the pliers you dont have to remove the fan-assemblys housing. This part could be done without pliers if you have nimble fingers.
But with that nimble fingers you would be so popular with girls that you wouldnt have time for computers anyhow,so I take that you dont have them..

4.6pack. But only after you have your stuff running,not before...

But, you have to remember that the mobos sata slot is not bootable,if you are planning to use the disk image or boot from the time machine disk.At least it isnt in the old 06s.
 
Macinposh said:
Sorry,forgot to answer to that one...

1. Short 4pin molex power cable to power the sata drive (from the cable that runs to the dvd drive).

2.60cm sata cable. One end is straight and the other is 90´.

3.Thin nosed angle pliers (90´ angle) to insert the 90´ end of the sata cable to the mobo´s side. With the pliers you dont have to remove the fan-assemblys housing. This part could be done without pliers if you have nimble fingers.
But with that nimble fingers you would be so popular with girls that you wouldnt have time for computers anyhow,so I take that you dont have them..

4.6pack. But only after you have your stuff running,not before...

But, you have to remember that the mobos sata slot is not bootable,if you are planning to use the disk image or boot from the time machine disk.At least it isnt in the old 06s.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
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