Josiah Carlson (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} chouyu_31) wrote,@ 2008-03-17 20:46:00 |
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I had a dream...
...and that dream was to get a bunch of hard drives, connect them up via USB2, and do software RAID 5 in Windows 2000 Professional. I am attempting to do this with a handful of smaller hard drives that I have laying around initially to start it out.
In order to do so, I would first need to connect them internally via PATA/SATA, make them dynamic disks, then make them a striped set. I don't have sufficient internal ports to make it happen (never mind power), and I am unsure as to whether or not I can get them working as dynamic disks, then make them part of a single volume later.
If I were a Linux guy, I could *attempt* to use ZFS-fuse, but unfortunately all of my apps are Windows. I suppose I could go the Hackintosh route, use ZFS there, and view the volume in a Parallels instance...but that would be crazy. I could arguably use ZFS in linux inside a VirtualBox instance, then mount the volume locally via Samba, but again; insanity. I've looked into external boxes that are accessed via ethernet (SAN), USB2, and Firewire, but all are generally slow (25 megs/second) and expensive.
Right now, it seems that my only real choices are:
1. Purchase 2 large USB drives, put data on one, and use MirrorFolder (or some equivalent for automatic backups) or cygwin + rsync for a local copy.
2. Pick up a selection of SATA drives (as many as I want/need), get an eSATA controller with sufficient ports, and use an eSATA -> SATA cable (up to 6 feet in length!) along with an external enclosure (I have a 4 bay external enclosure sitting in my storage unit) to power them, and hope W2k Pro does mirroring/striping.
Overall, assuming W2k does mirroring/striping on drives (which I'm going to test later tonight with an install and a mirror on a pair of drives), then the eSATA-based solution will offer the best performance (probably close to 50M/second write, 100M/second read, versus about 12M/second write 24M/second read with USB2 and MirrorFolder), best price, most flexibility for future upgrades (add another controller, more drives, etc.), and best cooling of the drives themselves. Further, SMART reporting will work, and the SMART monitor that I use on Windows will also work (it doesn't work on many external USB drives).
Cross your fingers for W2k mirroring to actually work (word on the net is that it doesn't). Technically, I also have a licensed version of Windows 2003 Server that I know supports software RAID 0, 1, and 5, but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't support a large selection of the software I want to use. I also have a licensed copy of Windows XP Professional, and there are software hacks that claim to make it work.
...
I'm just going to go for Windows XP Pro and the RAID hack. I've been meaning to switch my desktop to XP for a while now, and with more or less guaranteed support, it's hard to say no (like the surfboard ;) ).
Update: It took me about 5 tries to override the Windows File Protection protected drivers, but these instructions worked for me in SP2.
I guess I'm going to go for the SATA-based solution (whee!) Now all I need to do is to get the rest of my drivers installed.
Update 2: If you are going to use a boot drive > 128 gigs, remember to slipstream your XP SP2, otherwise your boot drive will be limited to 128 gigs (XP lacks the ability to resize a dynamic drive that was originally a basic drive). Ah well, I wasn't planning on using that extra 60 gigs for anything anyways (except for maybe a temporary/swap drive; RAID 0 at the end of two disks for speed sounds sweet).
Also, a freshly installed copy of XP is REALLY fast.
...and that dream was to get a bunch of hard drives, connect them up via USB2, and do software RAID 5 in Windows 2000 Professional. I am attempting to do this with a handful of smaller hard drives that I have laying around initially to start it out.
In order to do so, I would first need to connect them internally via PATA/SATA, make them dynamic disks, then make them a striped set. I don't have sufficient internal ports to make it happen (never mind power), and I am unsure as to whether or not I can get them working as dynamic disks, then make them part of a single volume later.
If I were a Linux guy, I could *attempt* to use ZFS-fuse, but unfortunately all of my apps are Windows. I suppose I could go the Hackintosh route, use ZFS there, and view the volume in a Parallels instance...but that would be crazy. I could arguably use ZFS in linux inside a VirtualBox instance, then mount the volume locally via Samba, but again; insanity. I've looked into external boxes that are accessed via ethernet (SAN), USB2, and Firewire, but all are generally slow (25 megs/second) and expensive.
Right now, it seems that my only real choices are:
1. Purchase 2 large USB drives, put data on one, and use MirrorFolder (or some equivalent for automatic backups) or cygwin + rsync for a local copy.
2. Pick up a selection of SATA drives (as many as I want/need), get an eSATA controller with sufficient ports, and use an eSATA -> SATA cable (up to 6 feet in length!) along with an external enclosure (I have a 4 bay external enclosure sitting in my storage unit) to power them, and hope W2k Pro does mirroring/striping.
Overall, assuming W2k does mirroring/striping on drives (which I'm going to test later tonight with an install and a mirror on a pair of drives), then the eSATA-based solution will offer the best performance (probably close to 50M/second write, 100M/second read, versus about 12M/second write 24M/second read with USB2 and MirrorFolder), best price, most flexibility for future upgrades (add another controller, more drives, etc.), and best cooling of the drives themselves. Further, SMART reporting will work, and the SMART monitor that I use on Windows will also work (it doesn't work on many external USB drives).
Cross your fingers for W2k mirroring to actually work (word on the net is that it doesn't). Technically, I also have a licensed version of Windows 2003 Server that I know supports software RAID 0, 1, and 5, but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't support a large selection of the software I want to use. I also have a licensed copy of Windows XP Professional, and there are software hacks that claim to make it work.
...
I'm just going to go for Windows XP Pro and the RAID hack. I've been meaning to switch my desktop to XP for a while now, and with more or less guaranteed support, it's hard to say no (like the surfboard ;) ).
Update: It took me about 5 tries to override the Windows File Protection protected drivers, but these instructions worked for me in SP2.
I guess I'm going to go for the SATA-based solution (whee!) Now all I need to do is to get the rest of my drivers installed.
Update 2: If you are going to use a boot drive > 128 gigs, remember to slipstream your XP SP2, otherwise your boot drive will be limited to 128 gigs (XP lacks the ability to resize a dynamic drive that was originally a basic drive). Ah well, I wasn't planning on using that extra 60 gigs for anything anyways (except for maybe a temporary/swap drive; RAID 0 at the end of two disks for speed sounds sweet).
Also, a freshly installed copy of XP is REALLY fast.
