[lug] TB raid disk setup (v3)

[Rob Nagler]

The external enclosure with the Areca 1150 failed.  I ended up
returning both and bought a white box with an Intel motherboard and
3ware 9550.  The SATA drives are connected directly to chassis.  The
white box is a nice enclosure:

http://www.jncs.com/php/sys/index.php?id=sys-in-3u

The 3ware is easy to use.  Far fewer options than the Areca, which
means far fewer bugs, imiho.

The Promise Vtrak is still crashing, and the 3ware box is humming
along.  It performs well: 13 mins for a du of 117GB.  I'm going to
retire the Promise in a week.

It seems to me that SATA arrays in external enclosures is really not
ready for prime time.  The cabling is too complex.  It reminds me of
the days when you had to choose between Centronics, 50 pin, and 68 pin
SCSI connectors, except worse, because SATA is not a bus.

Rob