Proliant ML370 G1 HD controller

[patrickl_1]

I have a proliant ML370 G1 733MHz server with a smartarray 431 raid card and 3 x 18G hot swap scsi HD. I have a separate 40G SCSI HD from another computer. I want to setup the server so that it boots on the 40G HD using the SCSI integrated on the motherboard and use the 3 hot swap HD as data disk.

My questions are:
1. If I do not require a raid configuration, can I just use the SCSI sontroller on the motherboard for all HD ? How can I setup the server for that ?

2. What is the advantages for using the smart-array card if I do not need raid ?

3. Can I add a PCI SATA card to install SATA HD in the ML370 G1 server if I need more space ?

Any comment will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[SPa]

1. If I do not require a raid configuration, can I just use the SCSI sontroller on the motherboard for all HD ? How can I setup the server for that ?
To connect all the Hard Drives to the SCSI Controller you will have to connect the SCSI Cable from the Hard Drive Backplane to the SCSI Controller instead of Smart Array 431.The earlier Raid configuration incase any will be lost.

2. What is the advantages for using the smart-array card if I do not need raid ?
The Hardware Raid provides Failure redundancy incase configured for it like RAID 1 and RAID 5.
Apart from that what I remember is that the Onboard SCSI Controller on ML370 G1 is Ultra 2 whereas Smart Array 431 is Ultra 3,so overall incase the Hard Drives are Ultra 3 the performance will be reduced to Ultra 2 when connected to Onboard controller.

3. Can I add a PCI SATA card to install SATA HD in the ML370 G1 server if I need more space ?
The Hot Plug Hard Drive Backplane is a SCSI one so it won't accept SATA in case you want to add in the same cage.

You have mentioned the separate Hard Drive of 40GB.You may want to check on it.SCSI Hard Drives are generally of 36 GB or 72GB ...

[patrickl_1]

Spa,
Thanks for your advise.

I am thinking of adding a PCI SATA card and put the SATA HD in the removable media bay (under the CDROM) in the future. Will the server work ( with both SATA and SCSI hard drives ) in this configuration ?