Home Forums SSDs- where should I utilize them

Hey guys. I recently installed some SSDs on my client machines in the patient rooms and love the speed. I have two 128gb SATA III SSD drives left and I want to use them on the server. Here is what it looks like

Current setup: 4 HDDs that are SATA III running in a RAID 10 configuration but on SATA II slots because that's what my motherboard had available for 4 drives. My Motherboard has two SATA III slots that I can run a RAID 1 or RAID 0 on. I'm thinking I should put the drives on these slots in a RAID 1. I'm running SBS 2008. Now what? I would love a speed increase b/c the thing takes forever to shut down/start up if I have a windows upgrade to install and I have a boatload of ram and an i7 CPU so I know that's not the problem.

Since you only have 2 drives, you would probably be looking at raid 1, since it is more reliable. Yes, you could get more speed and size with raid 0, but increase the likelihood of failure.

This then means you have a 120 G drive, which could house the system, leaving the other things on separate drives. While you can move the system, it may be better to reinstall it for maximum reliability.

This then brings to question if the increase in speed is worth rebuilding the entire server. Yes, you would get faster startup/shutdowns. But how often does that really happen, and you may only be shaving a couple minutes in the entire process. Yes, the entire system would initially move faster, things might be slightly snappier for a while, but as the system grows, it gets slower on SSDs just as it does on mechanical hard drives. How much faster and for how long??? Others may have a better answer to that.

The bottom line is that if your itching for a project, go for it. If you think you are going to save time, think about how much time will be involved in revamping the entire system.

Now if you had more drives..... (just kidding, but then again, not really)

Firstly, I would check the size of your AC folder currently. Make sure it's less than 120GB.

I would advise against moving SBS to the RAID 1 SSD. You'll see plenty of instances on the board where people ran out of space trying to put the OS on a 120GB with SBS 2008/2011. Also, I would rather using my fast paced storage more efficiently on just the AC folder. Think about how often you actually reboot the server. Mine hasn't been rebooted in 60 days. Not really worth wasting fast SSD storage on something like that. Way better to put AC on it instead.


The best option would be to simply move AC to a RAID 1 array of SSD. This means doing a complete backup and uninstall of AC. Then re-install onto the new RAID 1 array SSD. Of course make sure your folder isn't near 120GB. I usually go for 180-240GB.

I remember inquiring about this as well in the past.

AC does auto backups to a folder called "Backup" (I think). We do complete backups that include the imported items. To make a long story short, the AC folder on our server grows in a *hurry*, and a 120GB drive would require a lot of looking-after. As a matter of fact, I'd be leery with even a 240GB SSD.

I've seen 500GB-750GB SSD drives steadily come down in price, to the point where you might be able to pick one up for under $300 if you shop around.

At this point using a server, I would never use SSDs. Much rather go with SAS. Sometimes slow and safe is better than fast and less so. Just my take on it.

That's true. I usually have a second drive setup to store backups. (most people do.) I just automate it to remove files from the main drive. Doesn't make much sense to store your backups on the drive that is the point of failure.

Yeah, I wouldn't put SBS on the drives because of their size. I think putting AC on there would be good or maybe a swap file or something.. I have my AC backups going to a RAID 1 NAS so that shouldn't be a problem. Sandeep shoot me a PM and let me know what good times are for you and I'll pay you to log in and set stuff up and get it all working smoothly and make any other suggestions you might have.

So there is a way to stop AC from putting a backup into the "AmazingCharts\Backup" folder?

I've got AC making backups to 3 different locations throughout the network, so I don't need it to put an extra copy there.

Dear Gianni,

AC creates its backup file on the server in its backup folder, then copies that file to your three network destinations.

You can use cyber-d's free autodelete to delete the newest file on a server every day, waiting a few hours after AC copies it to the three network destinations:

http://cyber-d.blogspot.com/2005/10/cyber-ds-auto-delete-101.html

This isn't quite what you want (no backup files ever on your server), but it may be as close as you'll get.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel