(Semi)hot swap IDE
Scott W
wegster at mindcore.net
Mon Nov 24 17:37:10 PST 2003
Brent Wiese wrote:
>>>Hello!
>>>
>>>I'm looking for a cheap solution to back up a FreeBSD 4.8 machine.
>>>Cheap meaning that tape drives are out of question. Even external
>>>FireWire drives are deemed a bit too expensive by the folks
>>>
>>>
>>for whom
>>
>>
>>>I'm doing this research.
>>>
>>>This leaves one option I can think of - standard IDE drive
>>>
>>>
>>in one of
>>
>>
>>>those removable HDD trays. We'd probably use two drives, one being
>>>active in the machine and the other being kept somewhere out of the
>>>house for safety.
>>>
>>>
>><clip>
>>
>>I personally think this a great alternative to tape,
>>especially given the
>>low cost per GB of drive space.
>>
>>3ware cards support hot swapping IDE and there are several
>>hot-swap IDE
>>drive trays in the $50-75 range. You *MUST* make sure the
>>trays are really
>>hot swap. Most are not. The ones that are will be very
>>specific about saying
>>so.
>>
>>
>
>My computer vendor uses these:
>http://www.amtrade.com/pc/ata133_ide_mobil_hdd_racks.htm
>
>I personally have not used them, so don't blame me if they end up not
>working as advertised, but my vendor is happy with them. I have also never
>used that company or its website until today, so I have nothing in the way
>of recommending for or against.
>
>
>
>>Another alternative I just found this past weekend... There
>>is a company
>>making "hot swap" IDE trays, but instead of being IDE out,
>>they're USB 2.0.
>>
>>
>
>It came to my attention that FreeBSD 4.x lacks USB 2.0 support. I used these
>USB 2.0 trays in a Windows server and hadn't thought that USB 2.0 might not
>be supported in FreeBSD 4.x. I don't use USB in my FreeBSD servers, so this
>never crossed my mind.
>
>I'm providing the link to the HDD trays above to show my apologies. :)
>
>Cheers,
>Brent
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
>http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
>To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>
>
>
FWIW, those are pretty similar to what I've used in the past, with the
aforementioned IDE bus issues. The chassis/drive carrier doesn't really
add much into the mix one way or another- I've yet to see a carrier that
effectively emulates the (removed) drive being online, which of course
would pose it's own set of problems... ;-) No bus hangs, but whazt
about, "Oh yeah...oops, I forgot I included that mount point in THAT
script!" :-)
Scott
More information about the freebsd-questions
mailing list