Possibly OT... Hard Disk question

I have a Network hardisk from maxtor.

1. Its used for backup
2. "mediafiles"
3. It runs linux, and there is some neat addons you can install, like unoffisial firware so you can add like FTP server. (I run that)

Both usb and network hd's isnt usally as fast as internal once. But its more then enoug for most. The only expetion is running a program from it, were you want as most "speed" as you like.

About backup. I would use a DVD or CD (even though it only got a lifespan of 10 years with REGULAR use) but more then most hd's.

Raid.. more noise, more heat, expesive, and i think it is a tiny more diff. to set up (havent tried it my self)

Network hd's over usb. I picked network because i wanted the whole network to have access to the same data without it needing another computer to be turned on and taking resources. Also i can leave the network hd on when i go away and have access to it from the net with FTP.

Usb is cheaper..

The external hard drive would also be handy for when you give me the USNO catalogs...

Good point Michael. Looking at the numbers, 300 to 350 quid will give me 600 gigs of storage and RAID capability (does that cut it back to 300 gigs? I'm not sure of the maths when talking about RAID - over to you Seanie)

I'm currently using about 100 gigs of space, mostly for images, catalogues and music. I'd reckon that my space consumption will go up when I get a new imager, as will the number of images I take. But I don't think it'll go up significantly ie a factor of 10, but it may double or triple.

I suppose a good portion of the 100 gigs is 'static' - it shouldn't change - archived catalogues, software CD's (I copy them to the hardrive). Its the imaging that'll increase. I'd say if I use another 100 gigs in a year I'd be pushing it.

The RAID is interesting - presumably some of my images will be of Planet XI and so robust storage of that data will be important I'll get a DVD writer to do backups eventually. But I still want the data available for processing if required. The storage needs to be quick, safe and cheap.

I'd say this strategy will keep me going for at least 3 or 4 years. The only problem with waiting for the larger disks is that my PC will probably not accept them - but I could be wrong. I guess in 2 to 3 years though, I'll upgrade the whole PC to a dual processor system with twin 30" plasma displays :shock:

But thanks for the food for thought... I'll mull it over a bit more.

Cheers

Dave

Ah yes, the USNO catalogue... I'd love to get my hands on the B2 catalogue (80 gigs). I just got a copy of the UCAC2 catalogue (2 gigs) but I had to pay for that one...

Actually, that raises another point. There are a number of surveys nearing completion - can't remember their exact titles (one is GSC 2.0) but presumably, we'll get access to even more accurate data in the form of catalogues. So that'd be another storage sink...

Perhaps I could go with the RAID system AND get an external drive. With the SSIA less than 4 weeks away......

I had a problem with my windows drive last week, thankfully an automatic repair fixed the problem. To be honest I loose a harddrive every 2 years or so and currently run with 5 in the pc at the moment, all seriously important stuff like mp3s and astro images :lol: are backed up onto DVDs, I wouldnt trust ANY harddrive be it internal or external for this purpose. I've found that external drives are fragile beasts.

I was looking into a raid5 controller, it uses atleast 3 harddrives and is the best system for helping get around individual harddrive failures. Here is an example card I was looking at
www.promise.com/product/product_detail_e...s&product_id=124
ITs a pci raid5 controller using sata drives, you really need 4 drives to make this work, its an expensive solution and I dont know how fast it would be, but it would be excellent at preventing permanent dataloss when a drive goes down.
It gives you hot swappable drives (who needs to turn it off anyway) and auto rebuild

A lot of Motherboards have raid built into them now, and 250Gb drives are running at £50 ex vat less than 100 euros. Sad thing is you might find it cheaper to buy a new system and stick in an extra hard drive as you can get athlon64 systems for less than £300 inc VAt now.