[LUAU] SATA hot swap - off topic

[R. Scott Belford]

Jeff Mings wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestion.  What I'd really like to be able to do is 
> just switch out backup hard drives once a month.  The goal is simple 
> data redundancy, not hardware fail-over.  I'm planning on colocating a 
> server, and I was hoping I could just umount /dev/whichever ,  unlock a 
> drive tray, and reverse the process for a different drive.  It just 
> sounds too easy, though.
> 
> -Jeff

Jeff,

Have you looked at the 3ware sata raid controllers and the 3ware hard 
drive enclosures?  Try searching 3ware at newegg.  129 for a 64-bit two 
channel sata raid controller.  If the goal is using the drives as a 
backup device, I would definitely advise mirroring two drives, 
especially if it is offsite.

Whether you use the 3ware drive enclosure, or a less expensive tray, the 
3ware web admin tool makes it easy to disable a drive, unlock and remove 
it, and take it to another array.  This is obviously more costly than 
what you are trying to do, but the odds of ever losing data from a 
failed drive are even further reduced, and the ease of use is a 
timesaver/moneymaker.

--scott