Question : Problem: Advice on Storage Solutions

Greetings Experts,

We are looking into a storage solution that can be expandable up to 10TB.
1) (SAN, NAS, Disk Enclosures, Arrays) are all accepatable solutions, HOWEVER, I'm on a tight budget.
2) We prefer SAS over SATA even though SAS tends to be more expensive.
3) Rack-mountable (under 3U)
4) This is a Windows 2003 Domain - Don't know if this makes a difference.
5) Need all disks to be 15K RPM.

Anyone have any good experiences with any of these devices that they can recommend?

Answer : Problem: Advice on Storage Solutions

You would have to go with SAS to get 15k rpm.  An MD3000 from Dell supports 15 drives.  If you went with 300GB SAS drives at 15k, it would only be 4.5TB in a 3U rackmount enclosure.  This would be expandable up to 13.5 (3 x 4.5TB enclosures), but that is with 2 additional enclosures for a total of 9U rack space.  If you were able to compromise the speed and go with SATA at 7,200 rpm, you could put 15TB into that one 3U enclosure.  We get them for around $16,000.  I don't know if that would fit into your "Tight Budget".  I've had alot of success with these.