Block Size Raid 0

QNAP TS-659 Pro II NAS Network Server | QNAP TS-659 Pro II,NAS,Network ...

The QNAP TS-659 Pro II has more capacity than most NAS units in the market. Six bays can theoretically hold 18TB of data, in JBOD mode. Very few people with that much data are going to want to live without it for any length of time, so some sort of RAID configuration is called for. With six active drive bays, the main choices are going to be RAID 5, 6, or 10, depending on what type of data is primarily stored on the device. Despite its popularity, RAID 5 suffers from severe write performance limitations in large multi-user databases applications. RAID 10 eliminates this problem, at the expense of capacity, but for some uses it's a much better solution. RAID 6 offers some additional redundancy, allowing for continued operation even with two simultaneous drive failures, with no significant performance hit and only one additional drive. This option is very popular because if one individual drive fails in a RAID 5 implementation, the array instantly starts operating as a RAID 0 configuration, which has NO redundancy. It stays in that vulnerable state until the array is rebuilt, which is generally a very slow process.

The bottom line with any high performance storage solution is that the number of drive spindles in play is more important than almost any other factor, assuming that everything else is based on reasonably modern technology. When you combine the higher level of performance with the greater flexibility for online RAID capacity expansion & online RAID level migration, the additional cost of the extra drive bays looks like a bargain instead of conspicuous consumption. What initially looks like overkill in a NAS system might just be the very thing that saves the day some years down the road. With 2 Terabyte drives both affordable and readily available in performance and Green versions, six bays will most likely house all the files that 2-3 people can create in the span of 3-5 years. That's the average planned life cycle for modern IT equipment, at least for primary use. It may get re-purposed, or upgraded or passed down because it still has life left in it, but in five years almost every piece of IT hardware you own now will have evolved to the point where the new capabilities and features are too tempting to pass up.

The QNAP TS-659 Pro II shares the same basic technology platform as all the TS-x59 Pro II models, but the chunky profile sets it apart from the smaller units. It also weighs a bit more, especially with all six drives bays filled. The empty TS-259 Pro NAS unit weighs about 11.5 lbs, and adding six 2 TB hard drives piles on another 10 lbs to that. At 20+ pounds, it's never going to pass for a portable device, but it's still easier to pick up and move around than most any PC case that can hold six HDDs. Never mind one that supports six external drive bays, in addition to one more internal bay for the HDD with the operating system on it. If I had to describe it visually to someone who knew nothing about NAS devices, I'd tell them it looks like a big, restaurant toaster with a smart, German design. Oh, and the toast slides in from the front. Clever, eh?

Extreme 6 RAID Issues

I'm migrating from a nForce 780i MB to an ASROCK Extreme 6 MB. My old system had a two SATAII drive RAID0 setup with 128KB block size. On the Extreme 6, I changed the settings in BIOS for SATA Mode to RAID. I'm using the same two SATAII hard drives (RAID0) and using the same settings to setup the RAID0 on the Extreme 6. I'm using a Win7 System Restore disk to place a backup image from an eSATA drive to the RAID disk. However, each time I start the imaging I receive a message stating that the destination drive (the RAID0 disks) is unavailable or can't be reached to image. In the Win7 excluded area of the image setup wizard, the newly created RAID volume shows up and is the only thing listed but obviously isn't check to exclude. So it's not being excluded. I can go back to my old system with the same two disks, setup the RAID with same settings, go through the same Windows restore process and restore from the image. I've changed SATA ports on the Extreme 6 but still nothing. The weird thing is I can setup RAID0 on the Extreme 6 and do a clean Win7 install without any problems but can't place a backup image on the RAID. Any suggestions would help.

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