RAID 1 & Mirror question

[WhiteD3]

I need to order a PC (It'll be a Dell) with twin 500GB HDD so we can mirror the first drive to the second. Apart from specifying RAID 1, do I need specific software to achieve this functionality?

Cheers.

[Tote]

I have no experience with Dell but on white boxes the mirroring of the drives is achieved with a combination of smarts in the BIOS of the drive controller and the driver that interacts with it. You may need to load a specific driver for the controller if you are loading Windows from scratch.
So to answer your question, there is no other software required to mirror drives on a PC.

Regards,
Tote

[greg-g]

All that is required is a mother board that supports raid.
If its a desk top, I think you will find 1 Gb drives more cost effective.
While I have no problems with Dell computers, I really like to receive a physical copy of the windows disks as I find it makes installation and repair easier. Computers as reviewed in the PC User magazine are normally good value.

[WhiteD3]

Thanks Greg.

It'll be a R210 rack server (not that we need a server particularly, but the client wants it in a rack so.....) running Server 2003. Our software generates a large DB after a while which is time consuming to backup, hence the thinking re running a mirror.

If it were up to me (or if I bothered making the argument) we'd be building our own as required but the business has been using Dell for 5 years with no real problems.


Cheers.

[greg-g]

I'd be cautious relying on raid 1 for backup, it will protect you against a single disk failure, but doesn't offer protection against a power surge or virus taking out both drives, theft, or fire.
Data security is a major issue for business, and a bit out of my league, but personally I'd go for a semi remote NAS unit combined with off-site backup.
Have fun.

[mjm295]

All our servers now have OS raid 1 and data raid 5. New servers should have hardware raid capability, so no software required.

As greg said - there is no way I would rely on mirroring as a back up.

Raid 1 is great against disk/controller (HW) failure, but if (when) you get a data corruption it will be present on both disks. With large db's we backup to another disk over night, then dump this to tape at our leisure.

[WhiteD3]

Guys,

Advice taken on the backup issue but its a funny one for us. Our business is building automation; so we tender and win the work, install a control system in a building, shopping centre, whatever, part of which is our PC that logs data and gives the client a window into the system. The controllers will do their thing and the PC plays no part in the building automation as such.

Depending on the size of the project we run either an Access or SQL DB. Our techs carry out a backup regime where we take a copy of the DB each month and store it on our server in the office.

The RAID is in case of HDD failure only and is meant to save us labour time in restoring the system. Having said that we've never had a HDD failure (yet). It is the client's responsibility for the physical security of the server, virus protection, etc.

Cheers.

[miky]

Guys,

... we've never had a HDD failure ...
Cheers.

Gee wiz. So how old are the drives?

Or do you just replace them every (say) 3 years?

[WhiteD3]

Gee wiz. So how old are the drives?

Or do you just replace them every (say) 3 years?

That's the thing...they're not ours. We put in these systems and provide the required 12 month DLP, then we MAY get an ongoing maintenance contract but regardless, the server and all the controls belongs to the building owner.