RAID card

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drtbar
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: Muskegon, MI

RAID card

Post by drtbar » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:24 pm

Can someone recommend a RAID card? I'm in the process of upgrading my server before I switch my PMS over to open dental, and I want to replace the current HD with a RAID setup. I see RAID cards from $50 to $700 and I want to make sure I don't get something that has issues with open dental (if there are any). Thanks in advance.

tdong
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Re: RAID card

Post by tdong » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:59 am

well I am using adaptec SATA raid 1 without any problem. Besides raid card has nothing to do with OD you should be worried about compatibilities with your computer when you put the raid card in. Anyway if you are using SATA I would advice to use raid 1 (cheaper and more reliable than raid 5) only put 2 500gig Seagate in there and you are ready.

PS: the second server I put in a cheapo raid card for $35 and it works for two years already

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1454

drtbar
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: Muskegon, MI

Re: RAID card

Post by drtbar » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:14 pm

Well it may not have anything to do with open dental directly, but you never know when software and hardware won't play nice together.

I plan on running RAID 5 so it is much easier to upgrade down the road. Not only that but HD space is so cheap these days (750gb 7200 SATA $150).

How is RAID1 more reliable then RAID5?

panamanian33
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Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:31 pm
Location: Stockton, CA

Re: RAID card

Post by panamanian33 » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:58 pm

I’ve been building servers and worked with other named brand servers for over a decade now and the best RAID cards I've worked with are from Adaptec. Their configuration software is very easy to use and their tech support team will help you setup any RAID configuration.

By the way, when a customer is looking for a new Server or to upgrade an existing one, my advice to them is "Do not nickle and dime the Server, please". The server is the most important computer in the network and it's the one that holds all your “patients' information"

SATA Hard drives are so cheap nowadays. So, buy a good reliable SATA RAID 5 card. I understand that some can get by with RAID 1 as well. However, I prefer RAID 5 configured with an additional Hard Drive as a hot spare.

I hope this helps,

Alex
Projects and Solutions

tdong
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Re: RAID card

Post by tdong » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:48 am

well we use different tools for different things. what I mean by cheap and more reliable is because
OD only take like 8mb for 2000 patients info two 500gig is far more than enough. Raid1 was expensive that is why we use raid5
For Raid 5 if one drive fails you are still fine but suffer from performance 2 drive fail you are screw. you can google raid1 and raid5 to compare.

I just advice you to use Raid1 use it or not is your choice. I experience more raid5 failed over 10 years period than raid1.

Here is my setup
two Dell servers OS on SCSI Raid 1(3 36gig, 1 use for hotspare), DATA Sata Raid 1 (3 500gig, 1 hot spare)
Double Take for real time mirror and fail over
MySql is also backup hourly

I can say that my system is very much overkill but reliability is what we are aiming for right.

Let talk about raid 1 card vs raid 5 card for my understanding Raid1 is very simple to build and basically all of them are reliable. Raid5 on the other hand is more complicated like the other poster said buy the best card you can afford (but as we all know still do failed).

I am still stick to my raid 1 for the purpose of using OD

enamelrod
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Re: RAID card

Post by enamelrod » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:02 pm

tdong how much is double take and is there a Linux version or similar product?

tdong
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Re: RAID card

Post by tdong » Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:53 am

They have the linux version on beta now you can give it a try

http://www.doubletake.com/linux-recovery/default.aspx

the cost is quite expensive I think $3000 per server

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