Better 6 or 12 HDD?

[WhiteTiger]

There are 15 people in the office.
I need to create a server to virtualize at most 2/3 servers.
I have a Dell with 32GB RAM and XEON 6 Core CPU.
I can configure it with 6x600GB HDDs or 12x300GB HDDs.
Which configuration do you think would be better?

 

[spirit]

more disks = more iops, so 12 x 300GB.

 

[birdy]

Yes, more disk is more IOPS. And with 12x300GB you will have more (usable) storage too. For example, if you have two redundant disks you will loose 600GB (2x300), in the 6x600GB scenario you will loose 1200GB (2x600)

 

[WhiteTiger]

Thanks for your answer.
I appreciate your suggestions.

 

[Dunuin]

Yes, more disk is more IOPS. And with 12x300GB you will have more (usable) storage too. For example, if you have two redundant disks you will loose 600GB (2x300), in the 6x600GB scenario you will loose 1200GB (2x600)

I don't get why you should be able to get more useable storage.

12x 300GB as raid10 = 1800GB usable + 1800GB parity
6x 600GB as raid10 = 1800GB usable + 1800GB parity

That would only be the case if using raid6 but then you would get really worst IOPS.

 

[birdy]

That would only be the case if using raid6 but then you would get really worst IOPS.

Now you make it sound as if a RAID6 (which I am referring to yes) is unusable performancewise. Working over 5 years with a RAID6 (HDD-)based storage attached to an VMware-environment (250 users, 80+ servers including SQL, Exchange) I can say that is not true.

Sure RAID1(0) will be faster than RAID6 but maybe TS has his focus more an capacity than on performance. He has to decide that for himself. And maybe he can split it up in a RAID1(0) part (OS and VMs) and a RAID6 part (Data). One thing though we can agree on for sure: 12 disks are better than 6.

 

[birdy]

Just to add to the (possible) dilemma. If your server has only 12 bays for disks with 12 disk in place, if you want to extend, you have to replace disks. With 6 disk installed you can add another 6 disks.

Happy decision making!

 

[czechsys]

4x SSD in raid10 or raid1