<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/solutions/raid_levels.html">http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/solutions/raid_levels.html</a><br><div><br></div><div>That's a good write-up and comparison of the various types of RAID. Each type has it's own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses and you really need to assess your own scenario and requirements to determine what type of array will work best for your particular needs.</div><div><br></div><div>In my own experience, I do use RAID 5 and I use RAID 1. On a purely comfort level, I've always felt the most comfortable using RAID1...simply because ALL of the data resides in a complete and usable form on a single drive. In an absolute catastrophe with absolutely critical data, I could even take one failed/failing drive out and stick in into a plain old workstation for recovery/repair efforts or even send it off to be repaired, if I needed to go to that level (I never have). I've never lost data on a RAID1.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, I <u>have</u> been bitten by a RAID controller with firmware that didn't safely handle a RAID5 array with a marginal drive. It pretty much ruined the whole array. Twice. Each time, I had to rebuild the array and recover the data from backup. Fortunately, it was just my own in-house company server and didn't store irreplaceable data. But still a PIA and I've since then been a little gun-shy of arrays that require multiple drives to store a single set of data (basically, anything that isn't a RAID1).</div><div><br></div><div>But I still do usually use RAID 5 because it has a good balance between reliability, performance, cost, and allows the creation of a large single array. You've given me some food for thought, though. With hard drives having commodity-level prices these days, maybe it's time to take a closer look at 10.</div><div><br></div><div>WRT RAID10, it does seem that 10 performs better for both reads and writes, although RAID5 can perform equally well in an environment with more reads than writes. RAID 10 can also potentially sustain more drive failures before data loss vs RAID 5. But you pay more for 10. There's lots of technical analysis and info about 10 vs 5 (and RAID in general), if you Google for it.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Bottom line, you'll have to figure your own needs and find the array that best suits your specific balance between reliability, performance characteristics, and cost. Also, always use a hardware array. Always have a hot spare available And always use ECC RAM!<br></div><div><br></div><div>$.02,</div><div>Chad</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>______________________________<br><b>Chad Neeper</b><br><font size="1">Senior Systems Engineer</font><br><br><b>Level 9 Networks</b><br><font size="1">740-548-8070 (voice)<br>866-214-6607 (fax)</font><br><br><font size="1"><i>Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools</i></font><br></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 11:10 AM, Jim Lack <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:J.Lack@rrpl.org" target="_blank">J.Lack@rrpl.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1f497d">Thanks Jessica. I guess I’m at the other end of the spectrum. All our servers have RAID 5 setups and I’ve never come across an issue of having downtime. Sure, I’ve had drives go bad but the
systems keep plugging away until I get a replacement drive in. I just don’t know if there is a huge benefit if I move to RAID 10. Thanks for your input!!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Jessica D. Dooley [mailto:<a href="mailto:dooleyje@adamscolibrary.org" target="_blank">dooleyje@adamscolibrary.org</a>]
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<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 02, 2015 11:01 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Jim Lack<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [OPLINTECH] RAID 5 vs. RAID 10 on a file server<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Hi Jim,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">I can’t speak to the reputed performance benefits of RAID 10, since I’ve never used it, but I have four servers, including two domain controllers, running RAID 5, and I would never choose that configuration again.
I have a virtual host and NAS box running multiple instances of RAID 1, but not configured for striping. RAID 1 with a hot spare would be my configuration of choice in the future. The servers configured with RAID 5 have failed on more than one occasion; even
with backups, it’s a significant interruption. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has committed a large environment to RAID 10, and has seen noticeable performance benefits. Our domain controllers and member servers also double as file storage, with DFS replication
configured. I’d downvote RAID 5 on reliability alone – fwiw.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Thanks,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Jessica D. Dooley<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">IT Specialist<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Adams County Public Library<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><a href="tel:937-587-2085" value="+19375872085" target="_blank">937-587-2085</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><a href="mailto:dooleyje@adamscolibrary.org" target="_blank">dooleyje@adamscolibrary.org</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Jim Lack [<a href="mailto:J.Lack@rrpl.org" target="_blank">mailto:J.Lack@rrpl.org</a>]
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<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 02, 2015 10:43 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:oplintech@lists.oplin.org" target="_blank">oplintech@lists.oplin.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [OPLINTECH] RAID 5 vs. RAID 10 on a file server<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">I need to replace my current domain controller with a new server. The server also acts as our main file server. Our current server is set up with two drives, configured
in a RAID one setup which houses just the OS (Windows Server 2008). We have three additional drives set up with RAID 5 which houses all of our user files. We also have an additional drive as a global hot spare.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">I’m wrestling with the option of using RAID 10 on our new server (someone suggested it). Do I sacrifice a couple of drives in RAID 10 for performance or should I just
stick with the RAID 1 (OS) and RAID 5 configuration? I’m just wondering if there will be a big benefit going with RAID 10. There’s a lot of smart people on this list and I value your opinions. Let me know your thoughts
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Thank You,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jim Lack<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Technology Support Manager<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rocky River Public Library<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">1600 Hampton Rd.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rocky River, OH 44116<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="tel:440-895-3765" value="+14408953765" target="_blank">440-895-3765</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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