[Leaplist] Backup to external USB md RAID 1/5?

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Tue, 2008-04-01 at 18:35 -0500, Mark W. Alexander wrote:
> If you can point me to any itx < $100, I'd consider it.

First off, I've been saying _MicroATX_ for a long time.
Just in case you didn't see that:  
  "I choose MicroATX because it's the most commodity priced solution."

Secondly, I only recently started saying _Mini-ITX_ has become almost as
viable of an option, with more recent drops.  E.g., (from the archives)
  http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/leaplist/2008-March/003816.html  

The Intel D201GLY2 runs about $60 and is passive (the older GLY and
faster GLY2A use active fans).  Intel calls it "smaller MicroATX
compatible" because "Mini-ITX" is actually a ViA trademark last time I
checked.  But it's the exact same 6.7"x6.7" layout.

The GLY2 products use the Celeron 220, which is the newer, low-voltage
Conroe-L core:  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron#Conroe-L  

> For the price of that mainboard, you can get everything in a case
> slightly smaller that a video tape.

And you get a 3-year, lower-end, 266MHz I/O Processor (which is _not_ as
capable as an old, 7-issue, 266MHz Celeron at general OS) that is good
at doing 1 thing only.  Again, it is not a general microprocessor, it's
an I/O Processor.

The Intel IOP (storage) and IXP series X-Scale microcontrollers are
great for off-loading streaming duplexed or XOR parity operations much
better than a general CPU or providing a RX (receive) TCP Off-load
Engine (TOE) at, say, 533MHz or higher today.  These things have a IXP
266MHz and little memory to even drive Postscript in a printer, much
less act as an appliance.  ;)

For $60 you can get a Mini-ITX solution.  Add $10 for 1GiB DDR2 SRAM
which is dirt cheap these days.  How you mount it is up to you.  If you
want a "formal" ATX-type case, you can buy one for $50-150, with all
sorts of goodies, including slim-line CDs, hard drive bays, slots for
CompactFlash cards, etc...  Or you can call up DigiKey (or go to
RadioShack if you must) and get a "project box" that isn't much better
than that video tape you speak of.  A 60W power supply shouldn't cost
you more than $20-30 either.

Hell, if Mini-ITX (6.7"x6.7") is "too big for you," then go Nano-ITX
(4"x4") with a ViA processor that is still faster than that IXP at
general computing.

> Favorable price-point being... what, 3, 4, 5x  the price, plus build time
> and effort?

Again, $60.  Not just for some crap-level ViA, but for an Intel 1.2GHz
Conroe-L processor in the GLY2 platform.

> I'm not saying "Hey, get this thing to do everything you could
> possibly want." I'm saying for what you can do with them, they are _very_
> economical, quiet, no moving parts and they just work.

ATA-to-CompactFlash adapter:  $3.95
          CompactFlash card:  $5

Now I have a crapload _more_ storage to play with.  The only time I've
had issues with this configuration is with Windows, because NT expects a
"special format" that costs an arm'n a leg.  DOS and Linux kernels don't
have issues.

Oh yeah, add $1 more for the 40-pin ATA cable if you don't have one.  ;)

> Need double the processing power? Buy another one.

Huh?  If the system is already strained because it does _not_ even have
enough I/O-processing power to do both network _and_ storage, it doesn't
matter.  ;)

> Then get backup redunancy by running unison
> between them. Sure it will run all night. And maybe the next day, too. So...
> what?  External USB disk are pretty cheap these days, too.

With disconnections and performance issues as well.  I can deal with
performance.  I can't deal with disconnections.

It's why I still use an ATA-to-CF adapter instead of an USB dongle.
Repeat after me ... "USB is not a block interface, it just plays
one."  ;)

> Honestly, I don't care if one fails after a few years, as long as it doesn't
> take my data with it.

Which make the ATA-to-CF adapters nice.  I typically put two in a
system, one for backup/failover.  A lot cheaper than disk.  If my
enclosure has a slit, I can replace it without opening the box.

> The question (paraphrased) was "Everything I have works. How to I compress
> space?" It's far more practical to replace perfectly functional machines that
> take up too much space for $100 than for $300 or more.  For $300 bucks, I'd just
> keep my tower running and, well, keep the $300 bucks.

I can assemble passively cooled Mini-ITX system for not much more, and
have 3-5x the I/O and 20x the processing power, 10-20x the memory, let
alone the flexibility of a PCI slot (if I want multiple NIC ports).
Skip the hard drive and just use the sub-$10 CF adapter solution for
solid-state.  Enough to run a security appliance, including Squid
caching in memory-only.  ;)


-- 
Bryan J  Smith              Professional, Technical Annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org  http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
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           Fission Power:  An Inconvenient Solution