From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 29 15:12:03 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C218216A420 for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:12:03 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joe@netmusician.org) Received: from netmusician.org (netmusician.org [209.67.223.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3129043D55 for ; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:12:00 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from joe@netmusician.org) Received: from localhost (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by netmusician.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 34FBF730DE; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:20:19 -0500 (EST) Received: from netmusician.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (netmusician.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 59621-03; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:20:18 -0500 (EST) Received: from [192.168.0.2] (12-223-193-72.client.insightbb.com [12.223.193.72]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by netmusician.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 77411730AA; Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:20:18 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: <43B3F341.5030906@mac.com> References: <43B3F341.5030906@mac.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Joe Auty Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:12:02 -0500 To: Chuck Swiger X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.746.2) X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at netmusician.org Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: your advice on vinum, RAIDs X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:12:03 -0000 Some great advice here! What RAID level would you recommend for simply maximizing the hard disk space I have available? This is just my personal backup machine and will consist of two drives, so I don't need kick ass performance, and I don't need my files mirrored. I take it that striping is what I need to look at? RAID-0? Can I setup striping without reformatting, or only mirroring? Sorry, still learning the basics here.... On Dec 29, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Chuck Swiger wrote: > Joe Auty wrote: >> I've been considering buying another hard drive for my FreeBSD >> machine, and building a RAID with my current hard drive so that >> both drives are treated as one. > > This is known as RAID-1 mirroring. > >> Do any of you have experience in this area? Is this advisable? > > Yes and yes. :-) > >> I'm assuming I'd be looking at creating a RAID-5? > > Not with only two drives. > RAID-5 needs at least 3, and is wasteful unless you have 4-5. > >> Can this be done without reformatting my current drive? > > You can set up mirroring without reformatting, but be sure you have > good backups of your data regardless. > >> Does this setup work well? Do you have any general advice for me? >> I need to >> know if there is risk involved here. > > When choosing RAID levels, you are making a tradeoff between > performance, reliability, and cost: > > If you prefer... ...consider using: > ----------------------------------------------- > performance, reliability: RAID-1 mirroring > performance, cost: RAID-0 striping > reliability, performance: RAID-1 mirroring (+ hot spare, if > possible) > reliability, cost: RAID-5 (+ hot spare) > cost, reliability: RAID-5 > cost, performance: RAID-0 striping > > If you've got enough drives, using RAID-10 or RAID-50 will also > improve performance compared to stock RAID-1 or RAID-5 modes. > > -- > -Chuck > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions- > unsubscribe@freebsd.org"