Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:38:18 -0700
John Larkin <jjlarkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> hath wroth:
If my HP dies, I can grab a spare, identical machine from the storage
cubicle, plug in a front-panel hot-plug RAID c: drive from the dead
machine, and be back up in minutes. Most of that time will be spent
under the table groveling with cables. If the OS dies and I can't
boot, I can plug in a c: image drive, stored in a baggie, and mount
the old c: as d: to get its files, or use my daily files-only d:
backup drive and get most of what I need.
Nice. My experience with RAID hasn't been quite so wonderful. I
typically used RAID 1+0 (4 drives). Two drives striped and two
mirrored. Anticipating problems, I would usually buy extra identical
drives and have them available. What I discovered is that when one
drive fails, the others also fail soon after. I would re-mirror to a
new drive, and have one of the other drives decide to crash. I've had
source drives fail during a re-mirror. I've also re-mirrored, driven
away, and had a different drive fail. (Note: I was not monitoring
S.M.A.R.T. statistics at the time, but started to do so religiously
afterwards).
In one really bizarre incident, I had a small pile of new and never
used drives sitting next to the server. The original RAID array had
been running for about 2 years when the DPT controller started to
complain of errors on one drive. I installed one of the new drives,
re-mirrored, and assumed that I was safe. I was waiting for one of
the other drives to fail. Instead, the new drive failed almost
immediately. So much for the theory that running time affects life
time. About a month later, one of the other drives decided to exhibit
problem. I convinced the customer it was time to replace ALL the
drives.
Only the paranoid survive.
Yep. I only see broken computers, so my view of computer reliability
is rather warped. The good news is that storage has finally become
cheap enough to apply massive redundancy. I gave up on RAID and now
use mirrored servers.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.
- References:
- Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Joerg
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Jeff Liebermann
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: mrdarrett
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Joerg
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: mrdarrett
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Jeff Liebermann
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Nico Coesel
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: Jeff Liebermann
- Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- From: John Larkin
- Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- Prev by Date: Re: Which university produces good analog EEs?
- Next by Date: Re: EE educations, worldwide?
- Previous by thread: Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- Next by thread: Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
