We are interested in switching to RAID technology in order to prevent a hard disk failure from wiping out our data since the last backup.
As I understand it, the basic components I need for one PC are:
1) A SCSI cable
2) A SCSI cable terminator
3) At least two identical SCSI drives
4) A PCI controller card
I would like to go with the fastest SCSI transfer rate so we are buying for the long term. So here are the questions:
1) Is my parts list complete?
2) Is the RAID controller separate from the SCSI controller?
3) Is it a PCI card?
4) For the drives to be hot-swappable, do I need another piece of hardware and what would that be called that would mount the drives?
I see several types of references to cable types, and what seems like transfer speeds: Ultra320, Ultra160, SCSI2, SCSI3, 50 pin, 68 pin...
5) Is Ultra320 the fastest transfer rate (like ATA 133 for IDE)?
6) Is the number of pins the only thing that I need to know to properly connect the hard drive at the correct transfer rate to the controller?
7) Can I use any old hard drive with any old RAID/SCSI controller?
8) When you need to replace a RAIDed drive, does the replacement automatically get sync'ed up with the redundant second drive?
9) If not, is this done manually at startup or by using software in the OS?
Thank you for any answers or pointers to articles that I could read to get myself started!
As I understand it, the basic components I need for one PC are:
1) A SCSI cable
2) A SCSI cable terminator
3) At least two identical SCSI drives
4) A PCI controller card
I would like to go with the fastest SCSI transfer rate so we are buying for the long term. So here are the questions:
1) Is my parts list complete?
2) Is the RAID controller separate from the SCSI controller?
3) Is it a PCI card?
4) For the drives to be hot-swappable, do I need another piece of hardware and what would that be called that would mount the drives?
I see several types of references to cable types, and what seems like transfer speeds: Ultra320, Ultra160, SCSI2, SCSI3, 50 pin, 68 pin...
5) Is Ultra320 the fastest transfer rate (like ATA 133 for IDE)?
6) Is the number of pins the only thing that I need to know to properly connect the hard drive at the correct transfer rate to the controller?
7) Can I use any old hard drive with any old RAID/SCSI controller?
8) When you need to replace a RAIDed drive, does the replacement automatically get sync'ed up with the redundant second drive?
9) If not, is this done manually at startup or by using software in the OS?
Thank you for any answers or pointers to articles that I could read to get myself started!