Best RAID Card for Mac.

[nanofrog]

Yeah, I think it's most will definitely be an overkill but looking at the amount of data and space i'm currently chewing up (per project) I thought it might be worth it in the long run. Currently with 2.78Tb I'm left with a little over 1~3Gb of free space!! And that's before I make external back ups!!

More a tiresome chore than a task!!!

Besides, HDPro's are way over priced... so as a resort to rebuilding my storage means I wanna do it right. Also, with Apple's prior history I don't wanna waste money and time upgrading interface cards over and over again!!

Hence moving to an all external solution - I figure upgrading/exchanging FC cards seems to be way cheaper than upgrading internal raid solutions... plus, the disk format would remain the same - less time reconfiguring stuff. Right?

Currently there's two MacPro's and MacBook on the network, though I only use one of them, other is there for backup/non-work related. I do have various other systems about but not in uses.

As for budget... well.. I can stretch to about £8000, given there's the option to expand later Though I'd probably import the unit instead of buying in the UK! (ripp off!)

Given the fact you only use one computer, do you really need to go through the hassle and expense of making the storage available to multiple systems?

The RAID card solution, like FC gear, gives you the ability to expand over time. (Just add an enclosure). Expanders can be used to get you 128 drives, so that can get you lots of space. More than the FC gear you're looking at. It's also cheaper.

If you do decide you want the storage available to all the systems, then you'd need to put an FC card in each machine, and an FC router/switch.

You'd be able to transfer the card(s) to newer systems as you upgrade, provided PCIe is still being used. Nothing lasts forever...

If you give me an idea of drive quantities now and expansion rate, I can give you an idea of what enclosure to get. (If expanders are needed or not). Also, I might be able to give you a site or two that has the gear at better pricing than a UK source, and that would ship internationally.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Given the fact you only use one computer, do you really need to go through the hassle and expense of making the storage available to multiple systems?

The RAID card solution, like FC gear, gives you the ability to expand over time. (Just add an enclosure). Expanders can be used to get you 128 drives, so that can get you lots of space. More than the FC gear you're looking at. It's also cheaper.

If you do decide you want the storage available to all the systems, then you'd need to put an FC card in each machine, and an FC router/switch.

You'd be able to transfer the card(s) to newer systems as you upgrade, provided PCIe is still being used. Nothing lasts forever...

If you give me an idea of drive quantities now and expansion rate, I can give you an idea of what enclosure to get. (If expanders are needed or not). Also, I might be able to give you a site or two that has the gear at better pricing than a UK source, and that would ship internationally.

At the moment I'm just doing some ground work, research and learning..
I haven't yet made a definite decision as to what I'm gonna upgrade too. Only it won't be a HDPro.

However, if i do choose the FC route, would I be limited to the Promise VTE610 series or would any FC compatible storage unit work? I'm thinking those storage devices working independantly of the workstation, regardless of OS, right? And in some units I'm able to use both SAS and SATA devices, where as internal controller cards have certain restrictions, too much wiring and too many boxes.

 

[nanofrog]

At the moment I'm just doing some ground work, research and learning..
I haven't yet made a definite decision as to what I'm gonna upgrade too. Only it won't be a HDPro.

Research is a really good thing to do. Especially before ordering.

However, if i do choose the FC route, would I be limited to the Promise VTE610 series or would any FC compatible storage unit work? I'm thinking those storage devices working independently of the workstation, regardless of OS, right? And in some units I'm able to use both SAS and SATA devices, where as internal controller cards have certain restrictions, too much wiring and too many boxes.

From the way Promise's page was written, I had the impression it was sold as a "system", which would consist of the FC card and the enclosure. You'd need to contact Promise to verify what's up.

According to the datasheet, the listed OS's are Win 2003 and Linux (Red Hat & SuSe). SAS controllers can run SATA drives, so that would be universal. Just be warned that SAS is usually very picky with SATA drives, and usually won't function with consumer models due to the TLER timings (frequent drop outs).

In their part family, D = Dual Controller (redundant), and S = Single Controller.

You're sort of loosing me on the wiring bit. SAS expanders are easy. And direct cables aren't bad either. One card with six cables attached and running from the computer to 3*8 bay enclosures gives you 24 drives of storage madness.

 

[Virtuoso]

For what it's worth I get pretty good performance from my Caldigit card - 258MB/s in both read and write. This is on a 4 drive RAID5 array with Western Digital RE2 drives.

I had a load of problems initially but once they'd sorted out the firmware and drivers it bedded in nicely. I've been using it for about a year now with no problems.

There are probably better solutions out there though - if I was looking for a new one I would want one that was compatible with both the 2009 and 2008 Mac Pros, a decent amount of onboard cache and a built in battery. Oh and also one where the company didn't gang rape you on pricing for external expansion.

 

[noushy]

Apple card

Nano,
So far, I have 2 of the WD Raptors running on the internal apple raid card. In raid0, when working, gets around 220-250Mb/s, which is decent. However, every so often when the system sleeps or reboots, one or both drives are not recognized, or if one drive is, it says bay 0, not bays 1 or 2. Flakey so far, but I am taking your advice, going to purchase 4 x ST3300656SS seagate SAS drives (300GB) or the ST3450856SS (450GB) drives. I think the 300s will do, since this is going to be either a scratch disk/application volume, and for storage and editing, I have the Proavio unit with the 8 WD drives for now (12tb). The Highpoint card really is solid as far as performance. Using 2 minisas 4088 cables to the chassis, and it works great. For now, I am happy with this arrangement. I picked the Seagates because as a consultant, I get a better price (around $200 for the 300Gb, $290 for the 450Gb). One other questions, other than for large photoshop files, will bumping the ram from 12gb to 24gb make any improvement on day to day function? I still don't think the money is well spent on 4gb dimms.

Peace,
Noushy

 

[nanofrog]

Nano,
So far, I have 2 of the WD Raptors running on the internal apple raid card. In raid0, when working, gets around 220-250Mb/s, which is decent. However, every so often when the system sleeps or reboots, one or both drives are not recognized, or if one drive is, it says bay 0, not bays 1 or 2. Flakey so far, but I am taking your advice, going to purchase 4 x ST3300656SS seagate SAS drives (300GB) or the ST3450856SS (450GB) drives. I think the 300s will do, since this is going to be either a scratch disk/application volume, and for storage and editing, I have the Proavio unit with the 8 WD drives for now (12tb). The Highpoint card really is solid as far as performance. Using 2 minisas 4088 cables to the chassis, and it works great. For now, I am happy with this arrangement. I picked the Seagates because as a consultant, I get a better price (around $200 for the 300Gb, $290 for the 450Gb). One other questions, other than for large photoshop files, will bumping the ram from 12gb to 24gb make any improvement on day to day function? I still don't think the money is well spent on 4gb dimms.

Peace,
Noushy

I've an idea you should try first with the Velociraptors.
Get a copy of the WDTLER Utility (a search will turn up a link someone's posted), and use it to adjust the drive's recovery values from 0,7 (default) to 0,0 for RAID use (seconds). This should help, so give it a shot before buying anything.

As for SAS drives, the Cheetah's are good, but more for server use (sequential) than workstation. The Fujitsu MBA3300RC (300GB, no larger) is better for workstation use (better at random reads). I've no idea how well they'd work on the Apple card, but it's throughput is decent with the Velociraptors. So perhaps it will do better with SAS. It's supposed to optimized for it afterall...

Up to you, but I'm under the impression you're more workstation than server for usage pattern. If this is wrong, let me know.

 

[noushy]

TLER and Raptor

Nano, the Raptors are all in the Enterprise category, ie. Read/Write TLER set at 7s,0s by default. This is the optimal setting from WD for a RAID controller. For desktop use, it makes sense to set them to 0s,0s. Since I plan to use them in a RAID5 config, doesn't it make sense to leave the settings default? Please see this wikipedia link and tell me what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-Limited_Error_Recovery

Peace,
Noushy

 

[nanofrog]

Nano, the Raptors are all in the Enterprise category, ie. Read/Write TLER set at 7s,0s by default. This is the optimal setting from WD for a RAID controller. For desktop use, it makes sense to set them to 0s,0s. Since I plan to use them in a RAID5 config, doesn't it make sense to leave the settings default? Please see this wikipedia link and tell me what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-Limited_Error_Recovery

Peace,
Noushy

Given they were first being listed as performance drives, I'd think their default settings are those of a consumer drive (0,0). I've not pulled up the Utility with these drives though, as I've not had the need to.

Worth a shot at least, if you can run the utility. It's not quite so easy on a mac pro, if you don't have a USB boot stick or USB floppy drive and a boot floppy. The settings are up to you, as you can go for 7,0 or 7,7. Given it only partially drops out, try 7,0 first, and test. Up to you.

Sorry about 0,7. I'm getting dyslexic these days.

 

[noushy]

Apple Raid Card and WD VR problems

Nano,
I have not had time to reset the TLER status, but having said that, the VR continue to have problems with the Apple Raid Card. The WD Caviar Black Edition drives worked great, Raid0, Raid5, fantastic, no problems. My machine started beeping last night, drive failure raid card alarm. Had to power down since I did not have time to deal with it. Nothing but problems with the Raptors on the Apple Raid card. I decided to bite the bullet and ordered a few seagate sas drives (Cheetah 15k.6 450GB) to try out. I really want to run my Mac Pro OS off the raid card, and use my Raid5 for backup and nearline storage. Thoughts Nano?