Comments on: Installing RAID 1 on XP machines or use server software?

By: poppaman

poppaman — Wed, 18 May 2005 21:54:55 +0000

You might want to check on the Processor website (www.processor.com). I seem to remember several different brands of SBC computers advertised in their hard copy tabloid, but I find it difficult to search their website from “scratch” so to speak.

By: dcsys99

dcsys99 — Wed, 18 May 2005 16:47:35 +0000

Bummer….the IB745 is a “single board computer”. You may find an SBC with RAID. I’ve seen them with SATA or IDE RAID. You should check with your vendor. The IB745 comes with a “MicroPCI” slot that will accomodate a RAID controller. Unfortunately, I’ve only seen IDE based RAID controllers for MicroPCI. Low end RAID1 is better that software (or no)RAID.

Good Luck!
Dave

By: jtennyson

jtennyson — Tue, 17 May 2005 09:21:54 +0000

Thank you for your responses. I agree low end servers would be better. Unfortunately this is a custom buit machine and the pc equipment is custom so I have to work with what I have. I do not know if the motherboard will handle a SCSI controller. I will check with the manufacturer. The motherboards are IB745 Full-Size Socket 370 Intel 815E(b) CPU Card.

By: poppaman2

poppaman2 — Tue, 17 May 2005 09:03:21 +0000

I agree that for mission critical machines (24×7 operation with “five 9′s uptime” if achievable) a low end server class machine is the way to go. I don’t see any issue with running WinXP, but as previously stated, stay away from software RAID if at all possible.

If you want the most reliable setup available, use SCSI RAID (low end SCSI RAID controllers run about $350.00; some server motherboards have built in SCSI controllers and the ability to use a “zero channel” RAID controller; check with the motherboard vendor/system vendor for more details) as it is more reliable than SATA or ATA at the current time.

A more economical alternative would be to use a SATA controller (available for $50 – 100.00 for a 2 port controller), but you might sacrifice a bit in MTBF ratings for the hard drives… Stay away from ATA drives for this mission critical use; yes I realize that just about every desktop out there uses ATA or SATA drives, but there is good reason why most server or workstation class systems use SCSI…