From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Jul 23 19:46:06 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id TAA02326 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 23 Jul 1997 19:46:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fly.HiWAAY.net (root@fly.HiWAAY.net [208.147.154.56]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id TAA02311 for ; Wed, 23 Jul 1997 19:45:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nexgen.hiwaay.net by fly.HiWAAY.net; (8.8.5/1.1.8.2/21Sep95-1003PM) id VAA29719; Wed, 23 Jul 1997 21:44:19 -0500 (CDT) Received: from nexgen (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by nexgen.hiwaay.net (8.8.6/8.8.4) with ESMTP id TAA09543; Wed, 23 Jul 1997 19:19:15 -0500 (CDT) Message-Id: <199707240019.TAA09543@nexgen.hiwaay.net> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0gamma 1/27/96 To: Anthony.Kimball@East.Sun.COM cc: msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, jkh@time.cdrom.com, kuku@gilberto.physik.rwth-aachen.de, sos@sos.freebsd.dk, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG From: dkelly@hiwaay.net Subject: Re: building RAID systems In-reply-to: Message from Tony Kimball of "Wed, 23 Jul 1997 12:25:55 CDT." <199707231725.MAA06775@compound.east.sun.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 19:19:15 -0500 Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > Quoth Michael Smith on Thu, 24 July: > : > : Well, as I was saying, the 4GB ultra-SCSI IBM is AUD$533 (ex) here, or > : US$373. That's gotta count as "pretty cheap", hmm? > : > > That is competetive -- although yet premium for capacity, I'm more > than willing to pay that much for the performance. I hope this price > shows up in my searches soon! So far the best price I've seen on this > drive is $478. I just found that because I did a search, prompted by > your posting. (Thanks!) Thats an IBM DCAS 34330, right? Appears to be a darn nice drive. While "only 5400 RPM" I mounted one on an SGI Indy and used dd to write gig in 1M blocks. Got 7.8M/second. Same test with an ST15150N yeilded 6.3M/sec. Both were fresh out of mkfs. Forgot to try the same test for reads. Now have 2 PowerMacs with the same drive, while my first one is still sitting next to my FreeBSD system awaiting installation. > Passing fair IDE controllers are mandatory (you pay for them whether > you want them or not). A decent SCSI controller is another $200, > discretionary. Search for SCSI controllers again. I found Asus PCI-SC875's for $112 on the web. I've never used one but by all mentions on these lists one can't hardly ask for a better SCSI card. Not sure if it comes with the UW SCSI cable or not. > So, suppose that I am starting from scratch... I can add 6.4G to my > system for $350, or else I can spend $30 + $200 + $478 = $708 and get > 4.3G for my trouble. > > Now this equation does not apply to me personally, because I already > have more than enough SCSI controllers to go around, but surely you > can see how this argument can easily prove persuasive to the new > system builder. There's no accounting for PC buyer's tastes. One would spend out the nose to get a Pentium-II but would be the squeakiest skinflint on disk storage. And tape storage too. -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@hiwaay.net ===================================================================== The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system.