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we are trying to configure a descent size (in layman's perspective) storage at my lab. I am a skilled programmer, but my knowledge in hardware at non-consumer level is very limited at this point.

At this point, the following parts are my immediate concern:
1. workstation to analyze research data (raw microscopy data, binary data, etc. routine file sizes ranging from 50~200 GB; occasionally, up to 1~2TB/file)
2. a server to store files 3. there will be other computers connected to the server with regular 1GbE connection.

Based on research and the suggestions that I have received:

connection between the workstation and the server: 10GbE (10GBASE-T), iSCSI
the server will probably be either: a Synology rack station or a custom built server from a local vendor.

Scenario 1

workstation: no RAID system. just an SSD to store OS and applications.
server: RAID 5 (or RAID 0 with a back-up server), 12 disks (SATA III, "enterprise", 7200 RPM, 64 MB cache)

store all data on the server. on the workstation, read and write directly from and to the server.

Scenario 2

workstation: RAID 0, 4~6 disks (LSI MegaRAID 9260-8I is the one that the workstation vendor recommended, SATA III, "enterprise", 7200 RPM, 64 MB cache)
server: RAID 5, 12 disks

store all data on the server—except copy working files(images that are being processed or analyzed) to the workstation disks to utilize the workstation's RAID0 array.

Questions

  1. for Scenario 1, is the server's disk array speed fast enough to fully utilize the 10 Gbps connection?
  2. which scenario is going to be faster? which one would you recommend? (if you have any suggestions for modifications or a complete new set-up, I would appreciate your opinions)
  3. should we consider nearline-SAS drive(they seem to be quite expensive comparing to SATA III)? my vendor/sales-rep configured the server with nearline-SAS. we are not running any applications/databases that require a large number of input/output. we just need a fast, bulk storage.

I would greatly appreciate your help.
Thank you in advance.

hbar
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  • You need to know your usage. Do you require regular sustained disk access of > 120Mbps? Local disks. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. Don't do RAID0. – Mark Henderson Jul 28 '14 at 22:03
  • Do you know what you'll be doing *to* the large data files in terms of read/write access? – ewwhite Jul 28 '14 at 22:05
  • This was closed before I could clarify. Local storage or direct-attached storage will be your friend in just about every case where there will only be one consumer of data. I don't understand what the *"other computers connected to the server with regular 1GbE connection"* are for. But your decision will be a function of what you're doing to/with the data, your total capacity requirements (e.g. "I need 6TB of usable space"), cost and your throughput and latency needs. – ewwhite Jul 28 '14 at 22:09

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