Re: Using USB Drives for a RAID
On Saturday 18 August 2007, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 08/18/07 20:35, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> > On Saturday 18 August 2007, Ron Johnson wrote:
> >> On 08/18/07 19:39, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> >>> Has anyone built a RAID out of USB drives? I'm considering it
> >>> but I'd rather hear from others who may have done the same thing
> >>> first. I can see several possible problems. Last time I was
> >>> working with USG devices, if I unplugged the drives and did not
> >>> plug them in using the same order /dev/sda could become /dev/sdb,
> >>> so I could see that as an issue, for starters.
> >>>
> >>> If anyone has experience with this, I'd like to hear about it and
> >>> if it's a good or bad idea.
> >>
> >> What's the problem that you are trying to solve?
> >
> > At this point I'm exploring several possibilities.
>
> Possible whats? Drinking games? Strip clubs?
Are there any lists you're on where you haven't brought up naked women
out of context? :-?
Possibilities of using USB drives instead of internal drives for a RAID.
It would provide something close to hotplug and also
> Yes, I'm being snide, but that's because you didn't answer my
> question.
>
> Are you trying to solve a portability problem using high-capacity
> external drives, or a speed problem with USB thumb drives?
There's several reasons I'm looking into it. I suspect one issue with
the box I've been using could be circulation, which I could solve with
separate drive enclosures. It would make drive swapping easier and it
could also make it portable. I don't know what else, which is why I
asked the question. If people say, "Yeah, I've tried it and it doesn't
work," then I drop the idea. If people tell me, "I've tried it and
found it was a benefit because of a, b, and c, then I know it's worth
looking into and perhaps worth using.
That's why the original question: Has anyone tried this and what kind of
experience did they have? I find when I'm looking at a new
possibility, focusing on only my ideas can often close off discussion
about other possibilities or benefits I hadn't thought of.
> > If USB RAID is
> > not practical or workable, then I'll just drop the possibility and
> > stick with sata or pata drives.
>
> Many companies sell multi-drive USB & firewire enclosures, and lots
> do RAID-5. Get one with 5 slots, stuff 750GB drives in it, and get
> 3TB of easily transportable storage in the size of a large shoebox.
That's an idea I might find useful! Thanks!
Hal
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