Hard Drive upgrade in old server

[cookie_monster]

Ok all i've currently got a server with an Intel SE7525GP2 mobo in and a couple of Western Digital WD740GD disks in a RAID 1 set. I'd like to upgrade the disks to as large as they can go but I can't seem to find if there is a limit that this board/RAID controller will support. Can anyone tell me if this board should support pretty much any available size SATA disk?

 

Cheers

 

Mobo

 

Intel® Server Board SE7525GP2 - Intel® Server Board SE7525GP2 support

 

Hard Disks

 

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD | StorageReview.com

 

 

EDIT: on further reading all SATA kit sould support 48-bit LBA so theoreticaly it can support upto 1 petabyte disks so i'll not worry about that then.

Edited August 6, 2009 by cookie_monster

[Michael]

The biggest Intel have tested is upto 500GB. This should be big enough in most cases for a RAID1 setup

[cookie_monster]

That might keep them quiet for a while, I was hopeing to keep a load of videos, MP3's and other content on there that staff use but not have to back it up very often. I'm not sure 500Gb will be big enough we'll see.

 

Am I limited to Serial ATA-150 drives or can I use Serial ATA-300 and they just won't operate as fast?

[Michael]

Am I limited to Serial ATA-150 drives or can I use Serial ATA-300 and they just won't operate as fast?

 

Newer SATA 300 drives usually have a jumper which restricts them to SATA 150, however 'interestingly' the last batch of Seagate drives I purchased didn't have the jumper and worked immediately in SATA 300 mode.

 

If you buy a SATA drive today it should be SATA 300 compatible, but it depends on the manufacturer whether it comes in SATA 150 or 300 mode by default. If you want it in SATA 150 you leave the jumper on. If you want it in SATA 300 mode you take the jumper off.

[cookie_monster]

The question is should I risk the 1Tb disks or play it safe with the 500Gb

[tmcd35]

What RAID levels does the controller support? How many drive bays in the case/SATA ports on the controller?

 

Maybe 4x 300Gb/400Gb/500Gb (depending on budget) in RAID-5 will give you both the capacity and redundancy you are after?

[cookie_monster]

RAID 0 and 1 and I think it only supports 2 disks though i'll check that tomorrow.