PW670 RAID1 question

Question

I am in the process of selecting a Precision 670 workstation.
I require hard drive mirroring, which I understand is RAID1.

In the PW670 selections available on the Dell website I have chosen:

First Hard Drive
40GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive for RAID [subtract $1]
and
Hard Drive Configuration
C4- All SATA drives, RAID 1, 2 drive total configuration
and
2ND HARD DRIVE
40GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive [add $49 or $2/month1]

I have been looking at this machine for a couple months and the first Dell representative I spoke to said that the RAID1 that comes with the workstation is software RAID only, not hardware RAID1 which I have been led to believe is far superior performance wise.
His opinion was that he would have to supply me with a separate PCI RAID card to accommodate my RAID1 needs.

Now the new person that I spoke to seems to be intimating that this workstation is capable of RAID1 hardware without having to purchase an extra RAID card.

I'm not sure if I've adequately communicated my question to him, or maybe the original rep was in error. Therefore I ask you folks, who is right?

Also, the OS I have chosen is Win2000 PRO, will this be a problem for RAID drivers?

Thanks very much in advance for your help.

Chipstone · Answer

The built in SATA/SCSI HostRAID controllers are capable of RAID 0 & 1. I am not sure why the salesman is telling you that you require an additional PCI card.

If you were building more complex RAID configurations: Raid 5 & 10 then you would need a PCI card cable of multiple raids configuration, but the built in controller will accomplish what you need.

You will not extract the maximum performance from the Dell 670 with Windows 2000, to include HT with dual Xeon, and a host of manual configuration and obsolete system drivers.

Go with the Windows XP Pro. I personally use Server 2003 configured as a workstation application and performance is stellar.

Message Edited by Chipstone on 06-03-2005 09:56 AM

justfoo · Answer

Thanks Chipstone,
The new fellow I spoke to at Dell said the same thing, though he wasn't able to give details like you did, Thanks very much !

As for Win2000, some of the software that will be install on this machine is only supported to Win2000, and the machine will be an operator interface at an industrial facility, so we had to go with a supported OS.

Maybe you can answer another question for me.
Do you know how to find what the PCI bus voltage of this machine is?
I asked the Dell rep and he is still looking,
I guess there are two different voltages in PCI bus voltage, 3.3 v and 5.0.

I really need to know what the Precision 670 spec on this is.

Thanks again.

Chipstone · Answer

Go to this Dell 670 document website and download the user’s guide in HTML , once downloaded execute the file, and follow the instructions, and you will see the entire specs in browser format: 6.09MB file: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws670/en/index.htm

justfoo · Answer

Thanks Jorge,
That is a pile of information !
I have not found that spec yet in the manual but the Dell rep tells me that it is dual
3.3 and 5.0 volt pci bus. Not sure how that works but they say it is so.
Thanks again for that link, it is terrific.

Regards,
Don F

Storage, Drives & Media

PW670 RAID1 question

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