RAID 5 vs 10, energy costs?

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Posted by peep96, 08-09-2010, 02:12 PM
hey guys, looking to build a home web/email server. need to decide whether to use Raid 5 or 10 depending on energy prices. I really would like to use RAID 10 since I hear it's more recommended over RAID 5 (previous thread) but was going to use WD Black 7200rpm drives. How much energy difference would one of these drives make? Thanks in advance.
Posted by MikeTrike, 08-09-2010, 02:20 PM
If you intend to run RAID, use the RE3/RE4 drives that are equipped to handle RAID. Unless you're just using softraid and you're not really worried about it. There should not really be any difference in power between RAID5/RAID10 if you are using the same number of drives. What do you expect the load to be on the server? Do you intend to run hardware RAID? If you are running hardware raid you can get away with RAID5 no problem, softraid I'd stick with RAID10. EDIT: On another note, RAID10 needs at least 4 drives, RAID5 needs just 3. So power savings of one drive right there. However I recommend a hot spare, so maybe not any savings.
Posted by peep96, 08-09-2010, 02:40 PM
it is going to be hardware raid, not that much load on it. You think I should go with a 3 drive RAID 5 despite the better advantages of a four drive RAID 10? (just to save power) Last edited by peep96; 08-09-2010 at 02:45 PM.
Posted by Matt Thomas, 08-09-2010, 04:07 PM
3 Drive RAID 5 with 1 HOTSPARE is the way I like to go. Regardless of your choice, you will always want to do backups.
Posted by peep96, 08-09-2010, 04:19 PM
Do all motherboards support Hot Spares?
Posted by Matt Thomas, 08-09-2010, 04:27 PM
I can't say for all motherboards but just about any 3ware/LSI or Adaptec RAID card that supports RAID5 should have HotSpare support.
Posted by MikeTrike, 08-09-2010, 04:31 PM
Yes, but I thought you're using hardware RAID? If you're using onboard RAID, chances are it's software, unless it's a $500-$600 board.
Posted by Server Management, 08-09-2010, 04:34 PM
Hardware RAID is the way to go....
Posted by peep96, 08-09-2010, 04:49 PM
I'm sorry, but I've never heard anywhere that if it's onboard raid, chances are it's software. I thought any board could do software, but if in the stats it says raid support, it meant hardware? it says it has hardware controller, but maybe I'm wrong.
Posted by Server Management, 08-09-2010, 04:50 PM
Just add a dedicated hardware raid card... Whats the motherboard in question?
Posted by Neosurge, 08-09-2010, 05:09 PM
Some motherboards have add-in sockets that have true onboard raid.
Posted by peep96, 08-09-2010, 05:19 PM
Motherboard is Asus P6X58D Premium Socket 1366 X58 ATX. and what's a recommended hardware raid card with hotswapping for FreeBSD? LSI Megaraid?