Raid 1 MTTR problem

Hi,

One of those not so simple questions;

I have 2 x 300gb as a Raid 1 array,Intel ICH7 controller, and while I
havn't lost any data the 6-7 rebuilds in the last 6 months are, to say
the least, painful. A rebuild never finds any errors, and takes 5
hours. This is a Win XP workstation, and data reliability really
matters.

I would appreciate any thoughts -- am I better to run the drives as a
JBOD array, and copy my important data to a second drive regularly, or
buy a serious Adaptec card (and just how much does that help), or do I
just have to live with periodic rebuilds. Cost, within reason, is
not an issue.

The crashes that led to the drives are for a number of good reasons.

TIA,




--

TIA,
Gavin Melville
gavin.melville@acclipse.co.nz

Previously Gavin Melville <gavin.melville@acclipse.co.nz> wrote:
> Hi,

> One of those not so simple questions;

> I have 2 x 300gb as a Raid 1 array,Intel ICH7 controller, and while I
> havn't lost any data the 6-7 rebuilds in the last 6 months are, to say
> the least, painful. A rebuild never finds any errors, and takes 5
> hours. This is a Win XP workstation, and data reliability really
> matters.

> I would appreciate any thoughts -- am I better to run the drives as a
> JBOD array, and copy my important data to a second drive regularly, or
> buy a serious Adaptec card (and just how much does that help), or do I
> just have to live with periodic rebuilds. Cost, within reason, is
> not an issue.

> The crashes that led to the drives are for a number of good reasons.

> TIA,

I think you should buy a real RAID controller or move to software RAID.
However I advise you to stay away from Adaptec. Their products are
overpriced trash. Use, e.g., 3ware, Arcea or others.

Arno