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I am looking into getting a RAID from my OSX 10.2 Server after July 1. How does the compitition stack up against the Xserve Raid solution? Who are the competitors and are they cheaper?
Also, if I purchase an Xserver with several drives, can I RAID them?
My OSXSserver currently runs on a Dual G4 Box...and I need to be cost conscience, but get a good sizeable RAID up for our communications Department (they use, Quark, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc).
Thanks,
Ric
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I wouldn't necessarily buy an out-of-the-box RAID... they're far too pricey...
I just set up a RAID system on a professional video editor's system that was composed of several Fast (ultra, maybe) SCSI drives... the Apple Disk Utility makes RAID drives in a matter of seconds-- I connected about 720 GB of drives, striped and mirrored them under 15 minutes.
Apple's Disk Utility is pretty fool-proof.
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'Pricey' depends on your use... after many months of investigation on numerous systems, the Apple Xraid is one of the best bang for the buck RAID systems out there. I agree that if your needs are minimal or you just need two drives mirrored together you can go the 'do it yourself' route. However, i would like to warn you of software RAID systems and that they are not as effficient or reliable as a hardware RAID system. Also, SCSI RAID systems do demand a premium as far as hardware costs go.
If your needs are hundreds of GB range to Terabyte range then i would definitely try the larger systems... the XRAID is a viable alternative. Other systems such as those provided by Peguin Computing are also competitive.
I guess the moral of the story is... define your needs, your budget and then go from there.
-VB
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I would like to have the benifits of Hardware RAID though....I would like to avoid Software RAID.
Thanks tho!
-Ric
I wouldn't necessarily buy an out-of-the-box RAID... they're far too pricey...
I just set up a RAID system on a professional video editor's system that was composed of several Fast (ultra, maybe) SCSI drives... the Apple Disk Utility makes RAID drives in a matter of seconds-- I connected about 720 GB of drives, striped and mirrored them under 15 minutes.
Apple's Disk Utility is pretty fool-proof.
Ric... you a guest or not?? 
Check out some ATA RAID solutions as well. Go to www.sonnettech.com and check out their hardware ATA RAID cards and get some drives to go with them. Its a cheaper solution that using SCSI devices and MUCH cheaper that going the HUGE hardware box route. I have a colleague that uses these cards for video editing and they are fast enough for that.
-VB
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No really I am a member... 
Thanks! I will check them out.
-Ric
Ric... you a guest or not??
Check out some ATA RAID solutions as well. Go to www.sonnettech.com and check out their hardware ATA RAID cards and get some drives to go with them. Its a cheaper solution that using SCSI devices and MUCH cheaper that going the HUGE hardware box route. I have a colleague that uses these cards for video editing and they are fast enough for that.
-VB
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We also have been looking for a new Raid solution to replace an old MicroNet DataDock 7000 (Raid 5 200Gb). We are small art department for a catalog company (@15 users) that serve hi-res digital images to produce the catalog along with other internal projects. After looking around and pricing and researching, we think the XServe and Xserve Raid is the way to go. Initially Apple didn't support Raid 5, was only software Raid at that along with various other "bottlenecks". So we almost got into another SCSI Raid solution. Looked at Genesis, Fantomdrives and others and almost went with one of them. But Apple's Xserve has pretty much solved all those problems holding us back. Raid 5 is supported, it's a hardware Raid, not software and better value cost wise etc. We will be installing it in the next couple weeks as I am ordering it this week. Hopefully all my research has panned out right and we will have little to no headaches. Our old Apple G3 server with the DataDock 7000 (SCSI) has perfomed flawlessly by the way. Just ran out of room. Any one want to buy a used 200 gig SCSI Raid tower 
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Taz,
good to hear you have pulled the trigger for the Apple product we will also be getting the XRAID in house this week. The 2.5TB baby yeah!! I'll let everybody know how it is when we get it in... wOOt!
-VB
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Nope,
You can get the XRAID and then get the Fiber channel PCI card to go in your current box. They even have drivers for Windows and Linux so that you can get a cheap linux box and hang the XRAID off of that if you wish.
-VP
Jeez,
Its early... didn't log in NORE did i sign my post properly.. so i'll just repost as me:
Nope,
You can get the XRAID and then get the Fiber channel PCI card to go in your current box. They even have drivers for Windows and Linux so that you can get a cheap linux box and hang the XRAID off of that if you wish.
This is what we are doing... we already have a Dual G4 that we are installing the XRAID on. The sales guy at Apple said they have a whole room of servers from Dell, Compaq... etc. that they test the XRAID on. Its nice that Apple isn't restricting the XRAID to the Apple market only.
-VB
So, would I have to purchase the Xserver? Or could I connect it to my G4 that is running OSX 10.2 Server?
Thanks,
Ric
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I am also looking at getting a RAID from my OSX 10.2 Server. Can't find the seek/access times anywhere. Tried Apple website and white papers with specs, but don't see it. Any help appreciated.
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TayBass,
I'll try to find those but the fact that the XRAID "has a throughput at RAID 5 that is fast enough to support real-time high-definition 1080i video editing" is pretty stinking impressive. I mean at 209MB/s sustained throughput at RAID 5 is fast.
-VB
I am also looking at getting a RAID from my OSX 10.2 Server. Can't find the seek/access times anywhere. Tried Apple website and white papers with specs, but don't see it. Any help appreciated.
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If you can find it, great! I agree the throughput is impressive, but that's not the most important factor to my type of database work, where the seek+latency=access time of the drive mechanism is more important. Lotta hashing will be going on, so that's why I ask. Thanks in advance!
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