August 26th, 2007
Best storage strategies for the multimedia PC
This information is also available as a TechRepublic PDF download.
The modern PC has become the storage and entertainment hub of the home for many consumers and some people are gobbling up terabytes of data per year storing their DVD library, downloads, TV episodes, and other “stuff” that Seagate’s CEO so candidly admits he’s helping you I mean someone you know store. While this has changed the way we consume media for the better, it’s created a huge dilemma of how we go about storing all that stuff efficiently AND reliably.
The computer storage industry is peddling a dumbed down form of storage to consumers that causes them to give up half their capacity with mirroring technology such as RAID-1 and RAID-10. Other cheap RAID devices that use striping technology such as RAID-0 puts the user’s data at severe risk because a single disk failure kills the entire volume. The most practical solution such as RAID-5 is unfortunately often overlooked because RAID-5 controllers cost a little more to integrate. But if you buy the right gear and you know the pros and cons of each RAID technology, you won’t need to spend a lot of money and still get the best solution.
On a side note, my colleague Robin Harris has been on a misplaced vendetta against RAID storage in which he believes RAID doesn’t solve *his* problem. While Robin is right that RAID doesn’t solve *his* problem of reliable backup and disaster recovery, RAID was never meant to solve the backup problem and it’s a solution to an entirely different problem that Robin Harris may not care about but others do. What I and many other consumers need is to be able to store all that video content in a cheap and reliable manner. This content doesn’t really need to be backed up and mirrored off-site because it’s impractical to mirror terabytes of data and because the data is replaceable. Things like your personal photos and documents which can’t ever be replaced should absolutely be using practical off-site strategies.
If you just shoved six large 750GB hard drives in to your computer, you end up with a management nightmare because you have at least six independent volumes to manage. While six independent drives is very flexible and in some cases better performing when you’re doing multiple copy tasks at the same time, it’s simply too much to manage and I’ve lost track of files because I’ll accidentally forget to back it up and accidentally deleted what I thought was a replica. To solve the storage dilemma for the user that needs terabytes of storage, one of the most practical solutions on the market in terms of performance and price is the Intel ICH RAID controller built in to modern Intel chipset motherboards like the 965 and the latest 3-Series chipset. I reviewed 965 ICH8R here where it showed performance rivaling dedicated RAID controllers that cost hundreds of dollars. The latest ICH9R which is built in to the Intel 3-Series chipset improves upon its ICH8R predecessor by allowing you to use up to 6 drives in a single RAID-5 array.
<Next page - Intel’s ICH9R RAID controller>
George Ou is Technical Director of ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
