Hi all,

In a few months time I'll be looking at adding some external storage to my server, this could be USB or Ethernet. I've got 4x500GB hard drives in the server, configured into 2 mirrors (one boot mirror and one data mirror). ZFS snapshots are taken every hour to capture changes to any data within each file system, these are stored on the same hard drive the file system is on (and in turn these snapshots are mirrored like the file system), they protect me if accidentally deleting everything (again)...

I'm toying with two ideas, either have two 1TB hard drives and cycle them (backups once a week, a backup is kept for two weeks), or upgrade my system to something with more SATA ports on and buy some more hard drives. If I do this then I can upgrade my data mirror from a RAID1 to a RAIDz2 (almost equivalent to a RAID6).

Anything drastically important is stored out of the house anyway (on uni servers for the time being), so it's just a case of proofing the slightly less important data against hard drive failures and any potential damage to the system which could affect data.

My system specs are:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400. Running at 2.8GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L
RAM: Crucial 2GB DDR2 667MHz
Hard drive: Maxtor 500GB SATA2 running at 7200RPM with 32MB of cache
PSU: Antec 380W

If I go with a new system board I don't need any fancy integrated graphics , though integrated graphics can be helpful when troubleshooting.

Any advise would be grand

Ben

What's your budget?

To be honest, I don't know. I'd like to go for a cheaper option, however I know that compromising on price usually compromises on reliability/quality...

From memory, I think when I looked at a system board upgrade, it was around 90 quid for a board with eight SATA ports...Plus around 45 quid per new hdd, I'd be looking at about 200 pounds I think (no pound key on this keyboard).
RAIDz2 would give me maximum security and capacity inside the box, whereas external storage could give me more security and potentially portability, but wouldn't increase my storage space...

Do you really want more storage or a secure backup?
I use cheap XFX 3 port raid cards (they do raid 3) for my storage (I got them for about £8 each on sale at scan) with 1tb drive attached.
I then use shadow copies for accidental deletions.
I have online storage for the important data.