750gb Drives for XRAID
by Max Kaiser
on
Nov 2, 2009 at 12:01:34 am
Hi again,
Just spent the afternoon researching 750gb drives for the XRAID and it appears that they are VERY hard to find. Other than the seagates that seem to be going for around $250 or so, does anyone know of any others. I understand they must be PATA, or Ultra ATA drives, etc. just wondering if there are any out there somewhere I'm not looking.
Thanks!
Max
Max Kaiser
Director
Hand Crank Films
www.handcrankfilms.com
Re: 750gb Drives for XRAID by Dave Klee on Nov 4, 2009 at 12:32:40 am
Hey Max, the short answer is no. I haven't had much luck locating drives, and those Seagate drives you're talking about that are compatible (ST3750640A and ST3750640AV) aren't being made much and becoming hard to find, too. Last time I found a big batch at a good price was over a year ago.
Technology has come a long way since the old Apple Xserve RAID. They're great, but they're getting a little scary now -- hard to locate spare drives and parts. If a piece of it fails (a controller, power supply or even a fan), you could find yourself in trouble in a hurry. I still use several for some backups and less important stuff, but wouldn't trust it long term if you really care about your data.
So, is it worth dumping what could be thousands of dollars into an outdated box? Maybe -- if you've got spare parts and know its performance limitations. But, you might consider saving yourself some heartburn and putting the money toward something new that you could rely on.
Between this and the 10-port SANBox, it sounds like you're upgrading a fair amount of your older gear? Expanding an old Xsan? I hate to say it, but chasing 2Gb fibre channel and putting random 750GB drives in Apple RAIDs is not a good recipe for long term stability. Jordan's advice of putting together a solid 4Gb system with new RAIDs and a new 4Gb SANBox is good. You'll be thanking yourself in the long run.
Re: 750gb Drives for XRAID by Max Kaiser on Nov 4, 2009 at 12:46:40 am
Thanks gents. This is all really good info, and I appreciate the thoughts. I've been thinking about that "going down" thing a lot lately as I see how hard it is to get anything for this dinosaur.
So, I guess the next step is to start really perusing this board for what is the next logical step, without being a leap into outerspace as we are just a small boutique that never does anything beyond prores requirements. BUT, we gotta be able to share!
Max
Max Kaiser
Director
Hand Crank Films
www.handcrankfilms.com