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SCSI upgrade help needed

  • 15-10-2004 1:45pm
    #1
    Boro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,560 ✭✭✭


    I was asked to upgrade the storage capacity on a Dell PowerEdge 2400 server. It currently has three 9.1gb drives running in a RAID 5 array. The SCSI backplate (Adaptec AIC-7890 controller) can handle six 1" drives and there are 3 bays free. The technical specs of the server are here.

    Im fairly sure that the AIC-7890 controller in the machine is running the 160 drives (as opposed to the u320's). The system was built in December 2000.

    So, can anyone help me out with recommending a place to buy a decent sized drive and also a cradle for it? Any advice is also appreciated.


Comments

  • #2
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,552 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Dell didn't sell the cradles seperately - to "encourage" you to buy the drive from them as well. To be fair the price for drive + cradle wasn't that much more than getting the drives third party. - so check with them first.

    On some dells the "blanks" look like you could drill mounting holes for HDD's - if you didn't mind not having flashing led's - I would not recommend this route for a business machine until all else had failed. [edit - if you two servers of the exact same specs this is a neat way to clone them , but having two servers means you don't have to remove the redundant drive]

    Another option (risky & messy) would be to replace the redundant drive with a single drive large enough to software mirror the rest of the RAID5 array to. Then verify you can start up on the single drive, then pop back in other large drives and convert it to RAID 5. Again only if all else fails.

    In both cases be sure you can do a disaster recovery !!

    There are options where you restore a previous backup to a clean install of the OS but is also hairy.


  • #3
    Boro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,560 ✭✭✭Boro


    Thanks Cap!

    [edit]
    didnt realise that dell would sell the drives individually. Rang them up anyway and was told that a 36gb drive pack (apparently includes cradle) costs 242 euro including shipping and a 73gb drive costs 363 euro. Seems a tad pricy to me! Still im not paying for it at least...


  • #4
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,552 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    http://www.jaguarcompsys.ie/components/index.htm#hd
    or look up any supplier - SCSI drives cost a hell of a LOT more than IDE per GB

    200GB IDE Hard Drive (7200 rpm / uata 133 8mb cache) € 125 .00
    300B IDE Hard Drive / 5400rpm / UATA 133 / 2MB Cach/ 3yr Warranty € 239.00

    36GB / 10000rpm / U320 SCSI/ 8mb cache € 155.00

    And what is really irks me about it is some manufacurers like IBM seem to use the same chasis for both drives and only change the circuit board on the drive, and IDE drives have the controller on the circuit board (I=Intelligent) where as SCSI drives are inherently dumber.


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