Not just any CSs -- they would all have to be named "Steve".
It's like induction. Assume statement to be true, prove that it works for 221 Steves...
IDE RAID at a Hospital
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IDE RAID Examined
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I work in the Radiology department of a mid-size hospital. We recently decided to get a single image server to store all of our CT/MRI images at once. We figured out that if we got a 700GB system, that would hold about 9 months of data at once. Since we are not running a PACS yet, this is fine. We looked at pricing options, and since it wasn't mission-critical data (we had backups elsewhere, just not quite as accessible) we decided to go with IDE RAID.
We ended up going with the Promise UltraTrak SX8000, which is an external RAID cabinet that holds up to 8 IDE drives and connects up to the host computer via SCSI. We then got 8 120GB Western Digital drives for around 150$ each. The RAID set up quickly, and within an hour we had a formatted 7-drive RAID 5 array with a hotspare for if things went badly.
The cabinet has, in the 4 months since installation, given us zero problems, and worked flawlessly, with quick transfer rates, and extremely easy setup. Considering the price compared to an equivalent SCSI system, we feel that we got 90% of the value of a SCSI system (the only difference being that IDE drives break sooner than SCSI drives, and that SCSI drives are moderately faster, both of which weren't quite necessary for us.)
If your system contains mission-critical data, go the more expensive route and get a full SCSI raid system with multiple hotspares and pay a guy to sit in a corner and maintain it. If, like us, you just need a large amount of very-reliable storage without much hassle, go the IDE RAID route. It's working great for us.
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Not just any CSs -- they would all have to be named "Steve".
It's like induction. Assume statement to be true, prove that it works for 221 Steves...
We ended up going with the Promise UltraTrak SX8000, which is an external RAID cabinet that holds up to 8 IDE drives and connects up to the host computer via SCSI. We then got 8 120GB Western Digital drives for around 150$ each. The RAID set up quickly, and within an hour we had a formatted 7-drive RAID 5 array with a hotspare for if things went badly.
The cabinet has, in the 4 months since installation, given us zero problems, and worked flawlessly, with quick transfer rates, and extremely easy setup. Considering the price compared to an equivalent SCSI system, we feel that we got 90% of the value of a SCSI system (the only difference being that IDE drives break sooner than SCSI drives, and that SCSI drives are moderately faster, both of which weren't quite necessary for us.)
If your system contains mission-critical data, go the more expensive route and get a full SCSI raid system with multiple hotspares and pay a guy to sit in a corner and maintain it. If, like us, you just need a large amount of very-reliable storage without much hassle, go the IDE RAID route. It's working great for us.