Raid anyone?

[jharsh]

I want to set up a terabyte server (yes I really do need one). I figure I could get 8 250gb drives as they are cheap(~$160) now but is it possible? I want 8 because I want 2 sets of 4. one set of 4 would act as one drive and the other set of 4 would mirror the first set (giving redundancy to protect the data).

any ideas(can I even do this)?

BTW
For this to work I need a raid card with either 4 pata ports or 8 sata ports.

[snauzberries]

whats the serever for?

[jharsh]

File storage. I have 140gb of files on my computer and almost 300 cd's I want to have on one computer. The drives will be SLOW 5400rpm drives because I don't need speed with bulk storage (also the price of 7200 rpm 250gb drives are way to high. I already have to save for 3 months to get 5400prm drives I don't want to have to save for 6+ months).

BTW
The os will be mandrake linux.

[JollyRoger]

I believe it can be done, although I am not exactly a pro when it come to RAIDS
But theoreticly it is possible. how to set it up thats for another techie to answer.

[Morpheus]

use the force!

[yoda_mon]

This is no big deal.  The most dificult parts are finding a controller capable of dealing with 8 drives, a case big enough, and power.  Linux will easily take care of the raid bit.  I can not give you specific commands with out a bit of time to look it up.  Personally I would go to the Linux Documentation Projects web site and look it up in their how tos.  They have a fairly decent set of docs.

[ZWarrior]

I would agree.  The hardest part would be to find the controller that will run the 4 SATA drives.

I would build a RAID0+1 array.

[JollyRoger]

There are several controllers on the market that'll do the trick but they seem to range from $60-$120

Raid 0+1 Would be me recomendation too