new server motherboard with SATA II

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Tue, Jul 01, 2008 at 09:55:16PM +0200, Jonas Lund wrote:
> Thanks for the great overview/info. I guess i can hope that my disk
> will tell me something. Otherwise i really hope that my raid1-setup
> will save me (and a future me that got his ass off the couch fixing
> proper offsite backups).

Don't even get me started on backups.  The problem is that hard disk
sizes and overall applications are growing at a totally insane rate.
Tape, DAT, AIT, etc. drives are 1) too expensive, and 2) do not offer
enough storage capacity (compared to hard disks).  DVD is in no way
a feasible backup method either, unless you have very little data.

This forces people to end up relying on hard disks as their form of
backing up data, which is still risky business (if you ask me).  Someone
really needs to come out with an affordable (US$300 tops) backup medium
that uses SATA, eSATA, or USB2.0, works with *IX operating systems,
provides 250-500GB of capacity, and is virtually "limitless" when it
comes to capacity expansion.  That's what consumers will go for.

> > Secondly, I am in no way shape or form "ATA bashing".  SCSI has a better
> > overall protocol (design and transport), but it's (unjustifiably) more
> > expensive, and remains such even after all these years.  I actually
> > *like* SATA, and SAS as well.
> 
> The part about bashing was not directed at you, just a general note to
> get those extra mails out of the way. Sorry if it came out wrong.

I understand.  I also know the type of people you're referring to, so
don't feel like you're alone.

> I totally agree about the price being insane. Some people swear by
> SCSI usually having better quality parts, no idea on how much that
> corresponds to the truth tho.

I believe Scott Long commented last year sometime about how in this day
and age, disk-wise, SCSI and SATA are about the same.  "Back in the
day", SCSI disks consisting of better quality parts proves true.  But
now, I don't think it's done that way.

SCSI does offer some better administrative features, like being able to
manage the grown defect list yourself.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |