[s-cars] NAC- need advice on photo workstation, RAID and some other ???s

[Taka Mizutani]

Matt-
The issues I see with the server farm are several:

I don't have a server per se- I have two desktops (one for photo editing,
etc. and
one for daily email and other stuff) and possibly another desktop at my
disposal
(the potential server).

Wouldn't I need multiple copies of Retrospect to backup two computers and to
save it to a third? That would be an easy $500 just for the backup software.

I will start running out of electrical capacity in my office running one
system 24/7
along with at least one more desktop, a laser printer and a bunch of other
stuff.

I already have 3x 320GB SATA drives ready to go, don't have a "server" that
has
SATA capability and I still need a data drive or two on the photo
workstation regardless.

Does this really mean that I should really do both- have the "server" as the
backup
and run RAID on the workstation? The advantage to this would be that I don't
have
to have a bunch of external USB hard drives sitting around and PATA drives
generally
are cheaper in those large capacities (320 is still the sweet spot that I'm
seeing for
price/capacity).

Taka


On 6/12/06, matt ludwig <matt.ludwig2 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> these are my *exact* thoughts, Teddy. really nice way to summarize as
> well ( i am busy trying to move back to the U.S. at the moment)
>
> Taka- i know you are really leaning toward having a scalable, robust
> system- the only short-side i see is exactly what Teddy outlines.
> RAID, while very robust and powerful in what it can do, should really
> not be your safety net. this is great, but server HDs are far less
> prone to failure than desktops/notebooks. the real benefit you
> leverage w/ a server farm as we have outlined is you are in control
> to a finite level of the automations and true data transfer.
>
> i know you have said otherwise (and for very good reasons, believe
> me) that you think another route is more suited to you. but given
> your descriptions of where you want this to be in 1, 2 + years- i
> think this sort of thing might be better.
>
> just my 2 soles....
>
>
> sincerely,
>
>
> matt.
> 1995.5 S6 Avant
> Lima, Peru
>
>
> On 12Jun , 2006, at 5:32 PM, Theodore Chen wrote:
>
> >
> > there are many different ways to skin this cat.  my preference
> > would be
> > to rely on backup software (like Retrospect) first before relying
> > on RAID,
> > because RAID doesn't protect you against application or user
> > errors, only
> > disk failures.  i can't remember the last time i had a desktop HD
> > fail,
> > but i've had OS/software errors that resulted in file corruption.
> > with
> > a RAID 1 configuration, for example, you'll just have two copies of
> > the
> > corrupted file.  RAID 4 and 5 will give you the corrupted file striped
> > across several disks.
> >
> > -teddy
>
>