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SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

I finally broke down and bought a 150GB Velociraptor for my server. I installed it this afternoon.

That server hadn't had a reinstall in 3.5 years. The Windows install survived four motherboards, three CPUs, a move to x64, a move to dual core, a move to quad core, and a switch from AMD to Intel architecture. Of course it also had several drives, etc, come and go in that time. Truly a testament to the flexibility of Windows when it comes to hardware changes.

As a Beta tester for Windows Vista, Microsoft was nice enough to give me a free copy of Vista RTM and Server 2008 RTM. However, they didn't give me a key for Server 2008 until they gave me a free technet subscription for 12-18 hours. Activation successful.

Thanks go out to the teams that made Windows such a stable platform, and to whoever screwed up and sold Technets for $0.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

There's only one HDD in your server? bad... really bad... at least get a mirror drive Smiley

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 14th @ 5:29 PM

Because of this comment he will be forced to purchase 20 hard drives, or roughly 1 hard drive for every 10 monitors hooked up to his computer.

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 14th @ 5:29 PM

No, my old C: drive was one of the original WD1200's. It was on its last leg; the last of 8 I bought several years ago. From the days when a 120GB drive was huge.

The server currently has 11 drives:

B: 120 old system so I can migrate stuff over

C: 150 Velocystem

D: 1TB

E: 1TB

F: 1TB

G: 1TB

H: 1TB

I: 500GB

J: 1TB

K: 500GB

L: 1TB

Z: DVD

Probably 6-12 months away from replacing the 500 giggers with 2TB drives.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to SlackmasterK

#Aug 14th @ 5:35 PM

ew... no RAID? My hard drives die on a regular basis, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't put any trust in them at all...

Though, I have to admit, I have a 428MB 2.5" laptop drive from 1994 that survived without surface errors till today... good old times...

CannotResolveSymbol
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Beware: it's distinctly possible that keys from that Technet thing could be blacklisted with WGA sometime in the near future.

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 14th @ 5:43 PM

I have done RAID. An array failed on me and I lost the data. So I never did RAID again.

A buddy of mine has another server like mine. We back up to each others' servers.

Nothing of any value lives on C: on any of my systems. Not ever.

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

In reply to CannotResolveSymbol

#Aug 14th @ 5:52 PM

Then we'll go the legal route. Or I'll spend $15 on the "I lost my key" hotline.

LeoDavidson

In reply to SlackmasterK

#Aug 14th @ 5:54 PM

I'm convinced that RAID causes far more problems than it prevents for home users.

Better to have backups, lots of backups.

RLO

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 14th @ 5:43 PM

dodo, what the heck are you doing with your drives???

@leo From my experience, with the RAID at my former workplace it was nothing but a problem from the get go. If you want redundancy, mirroring is the way to go, and is even recommended for SQL Server and other intensive apps. Raid 5 is only good in a datacenter/hosting where you have a ton of spare drives when they fail.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to SlackmasterK

#Aug 14th @ 5:54 PM

I'm talking about redundant RAID that allows recovery... RAID 0 is stupid on a system you have to rely on when you're not striping redundant blocks of sub arrays.

@RLO: Using them. Random read/write 24 hours a day 7 days a week, why? Smiley

When I can afford it some time in the future I'll go RAID 60.

staceyw
Before C# there was darkness...

Why did you not spend $50 more and get the 300GB VR?

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

In reply to staceyw

#Aug 14th @ 8:12 PM

Space is of no consequence; that server has 8TB. Research indicated the benchmarks were equal or very similar. Also considering the previous drive was a 120GB, I gained 30GB in the process.

PerfectPhase
"This is not war, this is pest control!" - Dalek to Cyberman

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 14th @ 5:29 PM

This is what niggles me about some computer people, suggestions without actually asking what the sever actually does.

The server in my loft at home also has a VR drive for the OS, a single one, but has a massive RAID-5 for all my data. Uptime is not important to me, the data is, so lose of the OS drive means nothing other than a bit of down time.

PerfectPhase
"This is not war, this is pest control!" - Dalek to Cyberman

In reply to SlackmasterK

#Aug 14th @ 8:17 PM

I love the way those drives are a 2.5" drive in a bloody great heat sink! I have a couple the as OS drives in some of my desktops and they do make quite a difference!

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to PerfectPhase

#Aug 15th @ 4:14 AM

Normal server people care about the server being able to run 24/7 preferable with as little interuption as possible. A single point of failure is a big no no. Smiley

Massive RAID5? Also bad, because the more drives, the more likely two will fail and you loose all your data. The extra 70 bucks per 2TB of storage in RAID50 are worth it, trust me.

rhm

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 15th @ 4:47 AM

The problem with desktop raid (which I class as anything that isn't a giant plugin card by Adaptec or Areca) is that it tends to fail more often than the drives do. I have had drive failures, which have been annoying. But not as annoying as booting up your PC and seeing that the Raid controller has lost one of the drives at some point and is rebuilding the array yet again. I've had this happen with Highpoint and Silicon Image controllers on motherboards. I'm currently giving the concept a last chance with the nForce Media Shield in my current PC, but after that, I'm out. Quality backups are the way to go - raid just gives a false sense of security: even when it is working it's bad because it's putting you off keeping your backups up to date.

PerfectPhase
"This is not war, this is pest control!" - Dalek to Cyberman

In reply to Dodo

#Aug 15th @ 4:47 AM

Massive is probably the wrong term these days, 2 years ago when I built it was quite large for a home machine.

Even with RAID 50, I'm only guaranteed to be protected against 1 drive failure. Two raid 5 arrays with stripping. If I lose 2 disks in either parity arrays I still screwed. It gains me nothing but higher performance.

If it was really important to me that the data be avilable 24x7, RAID-6 which the controller supports would be a better option if I cared about multiple drive failures. Multiple parity disks + multiple hot spares. But as the array is backed up onto LTO4, the ROI of RAID 50 or even RAID-6 just isn't worth it!

As you said eariler, if you really care RAID-60 is going to keep you up through the most drive failures but it depends on what you want from the machine and what downtime your willing to put up with. If you go into it with your eyes open even a single drive is OK, not optimal but OK.

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

In reply to PerfectPhase

#Aug 15th @ 4:18 AM

Ironically, I had to mount that in an even bigger bracket so have a 2.5" drive in a 5.25" bay. I suppose it's better for heat dispursment too, although it doesn't seem to be an issue with that heatsink.