need 300 GB HDD

[Ayman Altounji]

What can I use to achieve 300GB of HDD storage, not mirrored or striped - to be used under W2K Advanced Server. Also, what can I use to perform unattended backup of 300GB ?

Most I've ever setup is 75GB...

[Ayman Altounji]

No one (that I know of) has a 300 GB hard disk available, though it's only a matter of time (at the rate we're going - it'll be tomorrow).

The only way now is to use either hardware or software RAID to combined a number of smaller drives.

[Ayman Altounji]

I don't imagine a single 300GB drive would be a good idea anyway, if one were available (which they aren't). Biggest consumer drives, as you've mentioned, are 75GB or so, maybe up to 90GB by now?

I'd be hesitant to plunk down the cash necessary to get one anyway, considering the ramifications if it failed. With one single drive, if it fails, you've lost all your data (of course, you also mentioned backing it up which is good).

I'd recommend a hardware array, if you're worried about the performance of a software array. Compaq sells 36GB drives, but I imagine you could find some 72GB drives soon... Either way, a single FC array controller and storage unit would let you have a nice RAID 5 array, which would be redundant and faster than a single large disk.

As for backing it up, I'm using an Exabyte tape library using Mammoth 2 drives. Each 8mm tape hold 60GB, or 150GB compressed. Mammoth 3 drives should be out soon (now?) that double that. With 40 tapes in my library, I'm set for quite a few months worth of unattended backups before I'd have to go in there and change tapes.

If the cost of such a beast is overwhelming, you could probably find smaller autoloaders.

I believe the largest single-tape capacity is somewhere in the neighborhood of 100GB uncompressed, although as mentioned, the Mammoth 3 drives will do 120GB uncompressed when those come out.

[Ayman Altounji]

In addition you can use a several Exabyte products. Like EZ17M2, 7 slots - 1 drive. 12MB/sec - 420GB native (30 MB/sec - 1.05 TB compressed) or Exabyte 215M, 1 or 2 drives, 15 slots, Exabyte 430M, 2 - 4 drives 30 slots, native 12MB/s per drive 60GB slot, compressed 30 MB/sec per drive, 150GB per slot. This will size nicely. Or wait until end Q3 when there will be an 430 Native Fiber 430MFC available.