Low cost RAID solutions?

[rage2]

So all of a sudden, I have a huge need for HDD space .

Currently, I've maxxed out my motherboard (and case) with 6 120GB hard drives. I need a good external 1TB+ solution. Anyone know of any external RAID cases that are fairly cheap? Something that can, say, stuff in 8 160GB IDE/SATA drives, have them in RAID configuration, and seen on the PC as 1 drive either via SATA or firewire?

I've looked around, but enclosures like that seems to cost around $3000usd. Too pricey, considering I can get those drives for under $1000cdn.

[speedracer]

Nope, I've been looking as well and I haven't found anything that great.

[legendboy]

used equipment?

[t3rry]

just get several single drive enclosures ($40-$50 a peice) and a usb hub its a bit slower than ide drives, but it works


or just go buy a couple 1TB hdd's

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10118

^^1TB external drive for the low low price of $1200 (i assume its uSD)

[sputnik]

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10118

[t3rry]

sputnik, i just posted that 3 minutes ago...

[Matthew]

I built several 1.6TB single cabinet systems like this using both striping and JBOD to get a single logical drive. A cabinet that will hold 10 drives, with power supplies costs around $400. Try calling Ron at Paclink Systems (he's a wholesaler) to source the cases.

The biggest problem that I had though was reliability. It seemed like when I had 8 big drives running on a single controller, it would occasionally hiccup and crash. I tried several different controllers too, all with similar results.

Don't get me wrong - I got it to work, but it seemed less reliable than I had hoped, and it seemed like the issue was principally due to the number of drives - Other similar configurations I had worked better, but with 4 drives instead of 8.

-Matthew

[Altezza]

Friend of mine had same problem. She went and bought a used PowerVault server and dropped in newer and bigger drives. Not a single complaint since. Don't think the Powervault takes IDE or SATA drives so that will likely put it out of your price range

[sputnik]

Originally posted by t3rry
sputnik, i just posted that 3 minutes ago...

whats your point?

it happens... it was 3 minutes... deal with it

[hampstor]

hi Rage2, I briefly spoke to your dad once when he was at ME... (saw the AMG outside w/ a beyond sticker and thought it was you! )

You could check out a Promise Ultratrak SX8000
http://www.promise.com/product/produ...=90&familyId=6

I don't recall price, but I can check for you tomorrow. The only thing though is that it's a SCSI3 ...

[rage2]

Do you work at Memory Express? If so, are there any volume discounts on those $200 200GB Seagates?