SATA RAID (4 drives)

  • Thread starter Thread starter DC
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DC

DC

Cinematographiliac
I just installed a Pacific Digital SATA RAID PCI card to my mobo. I connected *four* 300GB Maxtor DiamondMax10 16MegCache and created a RAID 0 (striped). This is all on a dual-Xeon running Avid Xpress Pro HD.

One concern is that I bought four of these drives with the same exact specs, but the RAID controller reads two of them as model 6L300S0 and the other two as model 6B300S0. Anybody know what the difference is, if any? I'm to understand that all the drives need to be exactly the same for the RAID to function properly. Also, how should the drives be configured with regards to Master and Slave? I currently have two masters and two slaves. Everything seems ok so far but I have not tested it with Avid yet.

I'm also not sure if I should create a RAID 0+1 (striping and mirroring) - would I lose storage space that way? How can a RAID be both? Curious how that works.

Any other advice with my set-up is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-DC-

UPDATE:

Ok, I did some more research and found out the difference between the two Maxtor models. The "B" model contains lead and/or other environmentally hazardous material. The "L" model is RoHS-compliant (Restriction of Hazardous Substances-compliant).
 
Good thing you're using RAID with those Maxtor's......you're gonna need it!!


maxtor_logo.jpg
=
crash-2003-1.jpg


Not being biased....it's well documented!!

http://www.google.com/search?q=maxt...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

~reservoir~
 
Well, I just read through some of that which also says Maxtor is great. It seems different people have different opinions between Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital, etc.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about it. Maxtor has been around for a long time and continues to be a market leader in hard drive technology and sales. So, I'm crossing my fingers and heading off into the sunset of Editing Land.

Thanks,

-DC-
 
No offense DC....but Maxtor drives do honestly suck in the long run. They typically crash WELL within their MTBF. Now their reliability *may* have improved in the last few years.....but ask any true GEEK about Maxtor you'll get the unified *They Suck* answer, more often than not!!

I'd suggest in the future spend the few extra bucks and get premium drives like Hitachi Ultrastar / Deskstar (Formerly IBM). They have about the best track record you could ask for when compared to the all the other manufacturers. They are generally considered *Enterprise* or *Mission Critical* hard drives, do to their common use in many of Corporate America's Server Farms. I swear by them, and having a RAID setup just makes you feel even more secure. Good Luck with you project.

~reservoir~
 
I find Western Digital to be much better drives, preferably the 120gb and 250gb 8mb cache versions. Maxtors have been really flaky since they came out with 80gb drives back way when, so I don't use them anymore. However, an old 20gb Maxtor drive that was in my first computer back in 1997 is still alive and ticking and never skipped a beat since I got it, so I'd say they're about 90% safe, but when it comes to HDD's 90% doesn't cut it for me.

Nice setup though, as long as it works it's good in my book. That RAID mus have some seriously cara-a-a-a-a-zy-y cache!:thumbsup:
 
Thanks for all the info, guys. For better or for worse . . . I'm stuck with Maxtor. We'll see how it goes! :)

-DC-
 
yeah.. i had one raid fail on me a number of years ago which was maxtor.. all said and done, they do have a great warranty. Im a big fan of seagate myself.
 
You might be better off with a Raid 5. Less room ( about 750 gb), but if one drive fails you won't lose your project.
 
About Maxtor drives I'm going through the long hard process of restoring lost files from a raid 0 system that has 3 maxtor 80 8Mb cache 7200 rpm, one of them is failing. I'm able to the one that fails intermittently up so that I can recover the files on it. The drives are only 2 years old, I think next time I'll get better quality drives.
 
RAID 0 should really have the "R" removed, because it involves NO redundancy at all. If you lose a drive you are essentially boned. While you do get a performance increase, you are actually increasing the risk of data loss considerably. With four drives you should seriously consider a RAID 5 configuration.
 
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