[ILUG] Why RAID

[Timothy Murphy]

On Tuesday 13 July 2004 12:42, Conor Wynne wrote:
> > Reading about all the problems with RAID,
> > I wonder why people bother with it?
> > Is it worth the hassle?
>
> No, DATA is not important. Especially not financial records and databases
> running company backbones.

I'll try to remember that when I am put in charge of AIB's databases.

> I'm sure you see no requirement for redundancy/backup of complex
> mathematical formulae and stuff :--)

Personally I just rsync to an ancient (PII) machine with a large disk.

The chances of a total disk failure  are negligible in my experience
(especially with SCSI disks).
I'd actually be more worried about 2 disks on the same machine
being struck by lightning, pee-ed on by the cat, etc.

To me RAID is like having an artificial heart in case you have a heart attack.
But I'm sure the real world is much safer with you gurus in charge.

-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland