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Storage Solution

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by frankchurch

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Storage Solution
We are consuming more disk space than originally anticipated for the Document Imaging. We had originally projected that we were going to run out of disk space by mid year; however, this is not the case.

My question is which alternatives below would suit us or if there are any other recommendations?

a)Compaq External Disk Sub-Array Module with 216MB and seven 316GB drives. $5,352
b)Snap Appliance SAN Server 4400 540GB RAID5 $5,944.99
c)Compaq New Server, $15,000
The first option deals with purchasing an external drive array module that we could attach to our existing server. The option is pricing considering that it would only provide 316GB of storage.

The second solution deals with acquiring a NAS (Network Area Storage) server device with 540GB of storage. By far this is the most cost effective solution. A NAS server is a stand alone disk array able to attach to our Microsoft Network and integrates with our security scheme.

The third and final alternative deals with purchasing a new server with larger storage capacity. This by far is the most expensive solution.

We will need two sets, so double the cost any of the above solutions.

Thank you,

3 replies

by curlergirl

Have you looked at the Promise Technology external drive subsystems? These are Ultra ATA subsystems that connect to a SCSI controller in your existing server. They are capable of RAID levels up to 50, and because they use ATA drives, they are quitecost-effective. Promise (www.promise.com) has a model into which you can put up to 8 Ultra ATA drives (up to 137GB each), so you could conceivably have over 600 GB of storage with RAID5. And it's hot swappable, too. We have one in our small (5-person) office with a RAID array that has 150GB of storage, and we've found it to be very reliable and problem free. Hope this helps!

by frankchurch

Thank you, but I’m little concerned about compatibility. Compaq’s are notorious for having customized BIOS options that conflict with non Compaq equipment. Not to mention that it voids the Compaq warranty.

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