Mass Storage
 

Hi Guys, I am building a media file server at present and although the main OS and system components aren't rocket science, I've drawn a blank on storage.

I'm looking to utilise at least 5 Tb and need 3>Gb/s transfer at least. I was wondering if anyone had faced such a task and built something powerful and economical?

I was looking at EXT4 as a potential format and SATA II. Then I have to consider cases/sizes especially with RAID set-ups, possibly RAID 5 unless anyone can shed some experienced light on this. Previously I've never needed anything so large, the server is simply to serve the large data files on a small Gig network for a business.

I also mean at least 5 TB meaning I may need to add another 5 TB to it or just add the storage racks to another server. All ideas and experience would be great, many thanks in advance.

I always tend to lean towards RAID5, with an online spare, and do it through hardware, rather than through software/LVM. Yes, it is a bit slower, but the redundancy and reliability far outweighs that (IMO). Don't get the cheapest RAID5 controller you can...spend a bit more, it's worth it. Lots of good SATA controllers out these days. Since the array is configured in BIOS on the controller, Linux will just see one disk...format/partition/install as you would any other disk. That's it. You can have more than one controller in a system, too, if you need more space later.

Thanks for that. Can you recommend a good controller or brand that has good Linux support?

I have had good luck with the Promise controllers, under both OpenSuSE, SuSE enterprise, and RedHat Enterprise (4 and 5). Your mileage may vary. :)