Looking to build new Raid 5 arrays (Reccomendations)

[cbt3]

thanks for all your help an insists, I have a few more questions


would I be better off running my current 3 500GB enterprise drives on a internal RAID0 or for sake of disk space, use my 3 1TB consumer level drives as an internal RAID0? is there going to be significant speed difference?

also as far as the SAS cards go, on the Sans Digital TR8X+ box, I am seeing Mini-SAS (SFF-8088) x 2, and it comes with two cables, and one of the acrea cards comes with two ports, should I connect the box with 2 cables? or are the two ports on the box or daisy chaining? like you see with dual FW800 ports

also this card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151074
areca ARC-1880ix-12,
has only one external min-sas but has several internal, and what looks like an ethernet port, and a phone jack? what is that all about?

or would just the two external ports make more sense
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Arec...medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase

----------

or if I only need one port am I better off getting something cheaper?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/MXPRMS6G1E1I/

or is this thing crap too?

 

[wonderspark]

thanks for all your help an insists, I have a few more questions


would I be better off running my current 3 500GB enterprise drives on a internal RAID0 or for sake of disk space, use my 3 1TB consumer level drives as an internal RAID0? is there going to be significant speed difference?

also as far as the SAS cards go, on the Sans Digital TR8X+ box, I am seeing Mini-SAS (SFF-8088) x 2, and it comes with two cables, and one of the acrea cards comes with two ports, should I connect the box with 2 cables? or are the two ports on the box or daisy chaining? like you see with dual FW800 ports

also this card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151074
areca ARC-1880ix-12,
has only one external min-sas but has several internal, and what looks like an ethernet port, and a phone jack? what is that all about?

or would just the two external ports make more sense
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Arec...medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase

----------

or if I only need one port am I better off getting something cheaper?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/MXPRMS6G1E1I/

or is this thing crap too?

The two mini-SAS cables allow each port on the Areca to service four disks, so data for top four use one cable, and the bottom four disks use the second cable. I considered using the 1880x with two 8088 ports, which is cleaner... but went with the internals via 8087-8088 adapter cables instead for the sole purpose of allowing eight more disks to be connected in the future, should I need it.

 

[cbt3]

The two mini-SAS cables allow each port on the Areca to service four disks, so data for top four use one cable, and the bottom four disks use the second cable. I considered using the 1880x with two 8088 ports, which is cleaner... but went with the internals via 8087-8088 adapter cables instead for the sole purpose of allowing eight more disks to be connected in the future, should I need it.

interesting, do you then just have a empty pci slot that you run the cables of your computer or something?

 

[nanofrog]

would I be better off running my current 3 500GB enterprise drives on a internal RAID0 or for sake of disk space, use my 3 1TB consumer level drives as an internal RAID0? is there going to be significant speed difference?

This will depend on how fast the actual disks are (check for independent reviews of the drives, not manufacturer data).

also as far as the SAS cards go, on the Sans Digital TR8X+ box, I am seeing Mini-SAS (SFF-8088) x 2, and it comes with two cables, and one of the Areca cards comes with two ports, should I connect the box with 2 cables? or are the two ports on the box or daisy chaining? like you see with dual FW800 ports

Each SFF-8088 (aka external MiniSAS cable) carries 4x drive ports. So if you're using a TR8X, you'd need to connect 2x cables to it in order to use all 8 drive bays.

Daisy chaining is not supported on that box. However, what you're talking about is possible with that card, as it will work with what's called a SAS Expander. In the case of the ARC-1880 series, they can control up to 128 disks this way.

Be warned, that SAS Expander equipped enclosures are more expensive (also possible to get them separately).

also this card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151074
areca ARC-1880ix-12,
has only one external min-sas but has several internal, and what looks like an ethernet port, and a phone jack? what is that all about?

You can use internal ports with external enclosures using a special cable (here). So having more ports now will make it easier and less expensive in the long term to add disks/make changes.

Please note the cable length; do not exceed 1.0 meters for SATA disks, or they'll become unstable (specification limit for SATA disks).

• Phone jack = enclosure monitoring port if equipped (need one on the enclosure as well; some still use DB9 connectors, which there is an adapter)
• Ethernet port = Remote Management, email notification, and NTP Server access

or would just the two external ports make more sense
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Arec...medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase

This is the cleanest way to go about it. But using a card with internal ports is possible (need an adapter kit for the HDD bays, and particular cables to attach internal ports to an external enclosure).

or if I only need one port am I better off getting something cheaper?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/MXPRMS6G1E1I/

or is this thing crap too?

That's just an RoC, so it's going to be similar to the Qx2 in terms of features and robustness.

So the short answer = avoid this.

 

[wonderspark]

interesting, do you then just have a empty pci slot that you run the cables of your computer or something?

Yes, exactly.

I have slot #1- GPU, Slot #2- Areca, Slot #3- empty where cables run out through removed slot cover, and Slot #4- eSATA 2-port.

I figure that if I ever need to use slot #3, I'll just find another way to route the cables out. For now, I don't see that happening, but it's something to think about.

 

[cbt3]

also I saw these WD RE SAS Drives, at comparable prices to the RE4, are these better/faster drives or am I mistaken?

http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

 

[wonderspark]

also I saw these WD RE SAS Drives, at comparable prices to the RE4, are these better/faster drives or am I mistaken?

http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

I believe those would work in the TR8X, since it says it uses both SATA and SAS drives, but as to whether it's better/faster, the specs show sustained throughput of 139MB/sec versus *138MB/sec. So yeah, one MB faster? I'm not an expert on the benefits of SAS vs. SATA, though.

*WD2003FYYS is 2TB model I use. The 1TB RE-4 model is only 128MB/sec.

 

[dknightd]

would I be better off running my current 3 500GB enterprise drives on a internal RAID0 or for sake of disk space, use my 3 1TB consumer level drives as an internal RAID0? is there going to be significant speed difference?

Newer, bigger disks, are almost always faster. But there are exceptions so you either have to test yourself, or believe others to find out. I don't think you'll find a 500GB disk that is faster than the latest 2TBdisks. But I could be wrong.

 

[nanofrog]

also I saw these WD RE SAS Drives, at comparable prices to the RE4, are these better/faster drives or am I mistaken?

http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

SAS has advantages due to the SCSI protocol, and some of the faster spindle models (10k and 15k) are most definitely faster. High IOPS is also involved, which you don't need as a single user (another matter for servers).

But they're also expensive for the same capacity as SATA (and is still the case now if you look hard enough). Unrecoverable Bit Error rate increases to 1E16 with these (not always the case, so you need to look).

For example, here's the WD1003FBYX (WD RE4 1TB) for $127.99 (also linked this previously). I've not used this vendor before, but the pricing is cheaper than anywhere else I've seen it right now. Best to research the vendor before buying to be sure they deliver what people order.

Please understand that you cannot mix SAS and SATA disks (it's one or the other).

There's another two things to consider while considering the SAS vs. SATA disk dilemma in your case:

1. Your usage doesn't require SAS disks (single user).
2. It's cheaper to use SATA, particularly in the future as committing to SAS now would cost you considerably more $$$ later on (once the pricing stabilizes again).

 

[cbt3]

well when you compare
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...le-_-Hard+Drives-_-Western+Digital-_-22136798
eSATA $250
to SAS $190

http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

obviously I can get it chepaer at a differnt site like here
http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

or the site you posted, although I have seen mixed reviews for it. My point is that it doesn't seem prohibively more expensive per disk, if there is a significant performance increase it may be worth it

There's another two things to consider while considering the SAS vs. SATA disk dilemma in your case:

1 Your usage doesn't require SAS disks (single user).
2 It's cheaper to use SATA, particularly in the future as committing to SAS now would cost you considerably more $$$ later on (once the pricing stabilizes again).

1- why not? what does single user have to do with it
2- why would it be more expensive "particularly in the future"?

 

[nanofrog]

well when you compare
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...le-_-Hard+Drives-_-Western+Digital-_-22136798
eSATA $250
to SAS $190

http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

obviously I can get it cheaper at a different site like here
http://www.adorama.com/WD1000FYYG.h...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

First off, pay attention to the model numbers, which means search them out.

The SATA drive is an RE4 series, which is a current model. The WD1000FYYG SAS disk you keep harping on, isn't. It's REVISION 1, not 4 (digit after RE = series; current is 4). This means that RE1 series you're looking at hasn't been manufactured in years.

That doesn't mean it's entirely useless, but I'd be concerned that it's a REFURBISHED model, or New Old Stock (HDD's don't do well if they've not been run in years, as the spindles tend to seize up). It won't be as fast as current models either (RE2 and newer of the same type and capacity will beat it performance wise).

or the site you posted, although I have seen mixed reviews for it. My point is that it doesn't seem prohibitively more expensive per disk, if there is a significant performance increase it may be worth it

In the case of an RE4 SATA vs. RE1 SAS, the RE4 SATA will kick the crap out of the RE1. Even mechanical disk technology has advanced that much.

1- why not? what does single user have to do with it
2- why would it be more expensive "particularly in the future"?

1. You don't need the higher IOPS ratings from SAS.
2. When the prices stabilize from their current "flood pricing", SATA will be a lot cheaper than SAS counterparts. And when you multiply that cost difference by the member count needed, it adds up quick; enough that SAS isn't financially feasible, especially when there's not a lot of difference in performance due to your specific usage pattern.

SAS disks are primarily used for servers for a reason (think relational database). Single users, which = low IOPS requirement comparatively speaking, can do just as well with SATA disks and take advantage of the savings.

 

[cbt3]

First off, pay attention to the model numbers, which means search them out.

The SATA drive is an RE4 series, which is a current model. The WD1000FYYG SAS disk you keep harping on, isn't. It's REVISION 1, not 4 (digit after RE = series; current is 4). This means that RE1 series you're looking at hasn't been manufactured in years.

I am sure this is true however, on WD's site RE SAS with that model number is the one they have
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=580

Although based on your other reasonings, I will end up going with SATA anyway

 

[nanofrog]

I am sure this is true however, on WD's site RE SAS with that model number is the one they have
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=580

Although based on your other reasonings, I will end up going with SATA anyway

Sorry about that , as I'm used to their SATA revision numbers (RE, aka RE1, series of SATA was years ago now).

They've recently bought Hitachi for their enterprise models, of which they finally got SAS disks (prior to the buy-out, they only offered SATA models). Since this is their first time offering SAS, they've opted to use RE instead of RE4 it seems (different mechanicals too, as it's a Hitachi with a WD label on it).

When it came to SAS, you had Seagate, Hitachi, and Toshiba (they bought Fujitsu's storage division). Now it's WD, Seagate, and Toshiba. Not a big change right now, but it could in the not too distant future (i.e. QC get worse, as has already occurred with some brands of SATA).

Generally speaking, the number of choices has been shrinking due to mergers/acquisitions, so we're ending up with fewer real choices in terms of brands.

 

[wonderspark]

that fan is very quiet I replaced my rosewill 8 bay unit with a noctua . the rosewill is a clone of the sans digital one thing to know the sans digital has 2 fans one for the hdds and one for the power supply.

here is the ebay listing one the one that I sold I kept one.


my unit is the lower cost esata type so max speed is 2x sata or about 540mbs. the inside fan setup should be the same. so here is the listing with some clear photos of fans. note to mods this has been sold and I am not trying to sell one now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/15068325731...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_2823wt_1299

Hey, sorry for thread necromancy, but what is the size of that smaller fan on the power supply in the Rosewill RAID box? 80mm? I'm ordering fans today, and only wanna tear this thing open once.

I'm ordering the Noctua NF-S12B ULN for the case fan. What to use for the PSU fan?

EDIT: Doh. Just read it in your old eBay thread. NF-R8.

 

[wonderspark]

For anyone interested, I replaced the 120mm case fan on my Sans Digital TR8X with a Noctua NF-S12B, and now there is no fan noise, only drive noise. The original fan with blue LEDs vs the Noctua is like having the fan on vs off. With no drives running, the only way to know it's on is to observe spinning blades; it's that much quieter.

The small 80mm fan inside the power supply is equally inaudible, and since it looked like a pain to switch out, I left it alone. The pics of the one that Philipma1957 had appeared to have an additional 80mm fan sitting atop the power supply, whereas mine was mounted inside the power supply box, not on top of it. I could not mount a fan there because my mini-SAS ports exit the case much lower than the eSATA cables in that unit, and since mine is silent and I've had absolutely no heat issues, it seemed pointless.

So the upshot of this is that at this point, it seems the Mac Pro and the RAID tower are about equal on noise being produced when everything is running at low idle. As soon as the Mac Pro starts working hard and the fans kick on, it's almost immediately louder than the RAID, whereas it would take a while to overcome the RAID fan prior to the swap. I'm happy!

 

[cbt3]

Thanks Everyone!

I would like to thank everyone who helped me in the thread and gave me advice;

for anyone interested, I was approved for a larger budget then I expected.
I just ordered today

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111173
Sans Digital 8-Bay TR8X+

http://amzn.com/B00407XX5I
Acrea ARC-1880x

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136579
Western Digital RE4 2TB x 4

http://amzn.com/B00429N19W
CyberPower Sinewave Battery Backup

huzzah!

So I will run 4 drives on RAID5 with miniSAS, and get 6TB working out of it, perfect! and when HDD prices go down I will get 2-4 more 2TB drives as needed. Thanks for all your help guys;

I do have one more question (that I am sure will be answered in the Sans Digitial Manual anyway). with 4 drives, can I run 2 miniSAS cables? or is that only for when you have 5 or more drives?

 

[wonderspark]

I would like to thank everyone who helped me in the thread and gave me advice;

for anyone interested, I was approved for a larger budget then I expected.
I just ordered today

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111173
Sans Digital 8-Bay TR8X+

http://amzn.com/B00407XX5I
Acrea ARC-1880x

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136579
Western Digital RE4 2TB x 4

http://amzn.com/B00429N19W
CyberPower Sinewave Battery Backup

huzzah!

So I will run 4 drives on RAID5 with miniSAS, and get 6TB working out of it, perfect! and when HDD prices go down I will get 2-4 more 2TB drives as needed. Thanks for all your help guys;

I do have one more question (that I am sure will be answered in the Sans Digitial Manual anyway). with 4 drives, can I run 2 miniSAS cables? or is that only for when you have 5 or more drives?

Congrats on that! You'll be happy!

By placing the disks with two in upper four and two in lower four slots, I *think* you would get the benefit of both mini-SAS cables, but consider that the disks only give you 138-139MB/sec, and each mini-SAS can run way more, I forget how fast. Anyway, fast enough that four disks on it don't hit a bottleneck. *Edit: I think it's 600MB/sec per cable. The Millennium Falcon? She's fast enough for you, old man.

Also, those RE-4 disks are cheaper on Amazon at the moment.

 

[nanofrog]

I would like to thank everyone who helped me in the thread and gave me advice;

NP.

I do have one more question (that I am sure will be answered in the Sans Digital Manual anyway). with 4 drives, can I run 2 miniSAS cables? or is that only for when you have 5 or more drives?

Each cable carries 4x SATA/SAS connections.

As per needing to split it, it won't really matter as there's sufficient bandwidth (those cables are fine for 4x drives, including SSD's). The real limit is the bandwidth available to the SAS controllers on the Areca, which are specified at 6.0Gb/s (= ~ 540 - 550MB/s real world sustained throughput rates per port). Past this, the limit will be the rest of the card, what you've created on it, and PCIe slot specifications.

Absolute max limit, assuming the card and specific implementation isn't causing a bottleneck (i.e. asking the card to run a 128 member RAID6 ), would be the 8x PCIe 2.0 lanes (max sustainable bandwidth of 4GB/s).

So it's a non-issue for you, regardless of what bays you choose for the members you'll be starting with.

By placing the disks with two in upper four and two in lower four slots, I *think* you would get the benefit of both mini-SAS cables, but consider that the disks only give you 138-139MB/sec, and each mini-SAS can run way more, I forget how fast. Anyway, fast enough that four disks on it don't hit a bottleneck. *Edit: I think it's 600MB/sec per cable. The Millennium Falcon? She's fast enough for you, old man.

This is possible, but it's not necessary, as the cables can handle 4x 6.0Gb/s ports without any problems (so does the enclosure).

Now with other enclosures, this can be a cost issue if the budget is tight, as they tend not to come with the external cables (Enhance Box is such a vendor). And this is one of the reasons Sans Digital's offerings are such a bargain. Not only is the purchase price lower (and it does work, so it's not money down the drain), but it includes 1x cable per SFF-8088 port on the rear (so 2x in the case of the TR8X). Since 1.0 meter SFF-8088 cables tend to run ~$60USD (not including shipping), that's a pretty good savings.

Makes a $600 Enhance Box actually cost $720 + shipping. Compared to $400 or so for the TR8X, it's quite a difference (why I stopped using Enhance's products back in 2008 or so = when Sans Digital came out with a suitable MiniSAS product).

 

[wonderspark]

What I don't know for sure is whether or not the two ports on the TR8X are actually divided into 4 slots each (which I assumed they are) or if they run together and just share the bandwidth.

I suppose I could pull one cable and see what happens, eh? Hahaha

Somehow, I think I'll be sorry if I do that, or even swap the two cables... another bad idea!

 

[JesterJJZ]

• ARC-1880X $715
• Sans Digital TR8X $400
  

So...with that card and tower, I would use a SAS to 4x eSATA fanout to connect it right? Would I be able the other 2 eSATA ports on that fanout for 2 other eSATA drives? Also a LTO5 Drive on the 2nd SAS port?

 

[nanofrog]

So...with that card and tower, I would use a SAS to 4x eSATA fanout to connect it right? Would I be able the other 2 eSATA ports on that fanout for 2 other eSATA drives? Also a LTO5 Drive on the 2nd SAS port?

NO. Neither of these products have standard SATA/eSATA ports (connectors) you usually see internally in the system or with inexpensive consumer drives (i.e. externals).

You'll need 2 * 1.0 meter External MiniSAS (SFF-8088) to External MiniSAS (SFF-8088) cables between the drive enclosure and the card.

Now in the case of the TR8X however, it comes with both cables, so you won't need to buy them (nothing changes from a technical POV, but this inclusion adds a good bit of value to the package ).

 

[JesterJJZ]

NO. Neither of these products have standard SATA/eSATA ports (connectors) you usually see internally in the system or with inexpensive consumer drives (i.e. externals).

You'll need 2 * 1.0 meter External MiniSAS (SFF-8088) to External MiniSAS (SFF-8088) cables between the drive enclosure and the card.

Now in the case of the TR8X however, it comes with both cables, so you won't need to buy them (nothing changes from a technical POV, but this inclusion adds a good bit of value to the package ).

Ahh...they looked like esata ports from the small picture. Makes sense.

I'm probably going to get a Pegasus when the new Thunderbolt MacPros come out...I hope. But I'm looking for a temporary solution that I can use with an LTO5 system I'm planning on getting as well.

Was looking at this SAS card from OWC.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/MXPRMS6G2E/

And an HP LTO5 drive.

Then probably a OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 on an eSATA fanout from the card from port 2.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/

That would work right?

The OWC would later become my online backup for the Pegasus.

 

[nanofrog]

Ahh...they looked like esata ports from the small picture. Makes sense.

It's not huge, but it's larger than an eSATA port.

If you look at the external connectors on the OWC card you linked, you'll notice the metal shield around it, which is the dead give-away, as eSATA doesn't have that on the female connector on the enclosure.

I'm probably going to get a Pegasus when the new Thunderbolt MacPros come out...I hope. But I'm looking for a temporary solution that I can use with an LTO5 system I'm planning on getting as well.

There's a few things you need to realize about the Pegasus before you buy one...

1. They use an RoC (RAID on a Chip - Marvell 88SE9840 I suspect, which is decent - it's used in both the OWC card you're looking at as well as ATTO's R6xx full hardware RAID cards). But without the extra bits (cache and feature set, particularly in regard to recovery, online expansion, and online migration <need cache for the latter two>), it isn't as robust as the Areca or ATTO cards. Not a bad chip by any means, but it has limitations without the additional hardware and software (embedded in the card's firmware) comparatively speaking.
2. The real kicker IMO, is it uses consumer grade HDD's. Hitachi Deathstars Deskstars to be exact (I'm not a fan of them if you can't tell... ).

This is why it's low cost. Otherwise, a 4TB enterprise solution similar to the Pegasus R4 would be around double the money (proper, full-blown hardware RAID board + TB controller + enterprise grade HDD's = not cheap).

I'm not bashing it, but trying to make sure you're aware of it's limitations, particularly in regard to data integrity (could lose data in situations cards such as Areca or ATTO would be able to recover).

Was looking at this SAS card from OWC.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/MXPRMS6G2E/

And an HP LTO5 drive.

Then probably a OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 on an eSATA fanout from the card from port 2.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/

That would work right?

The OWC would later become my online backup for the Pegasus.

Getting this to work would be possible, but not going to be as fast as you might expect. If configured in a stripe set, you'd only get ~ 250MB/s for sequential throughputs on the Qx2 (best you can hope for in regard to performance, with it reducing for other levels, RAID 5 in particular as parity calculations are needed; 0/1/10 don't use parity, and would all be faster with this particular product).

Assuming the LTO5 is an external model (SFF-8088 connector on the rear panel), connecting it to the OWC card won't be an issue.

If it's an internal model however, it's more difficult (and expensive), but still possible. Such a configuration would require an odd-ball cable to make it work(SFF-8088 to 4*SFF-8482 fan-out). The internal version (SFF-8087 end instead of the SFF-8088), is more than $100 cheaper (here).

Given this is a MacPro however, I don't see how you could even use an internal LTO5 (unless you cut the front of the case to gain access to the tape drive, hence the assumption it will be an external unit).

The primary reason for the speed issue is the Qx2 uses a single eSATA interface, not 4x. You can get an SFF-8088 to 4*eSATA breakout cable, but you'll only be using 1x SAS ports on the card. Since it's also a simple RoC over a single port, it's not that fast, and you'll have the same data integrity issues as you would with the Pegasus (may actually even be worse).

A better solution for speed would be to get a Sans Digital TR4X (4 bay version of the TR8X linked above).

The same issues apply in regard to the RoC aspect of the OWC card, but at least each disk in the TR4X has it's own port rather than sharing bandwidth as is the case with the Qx2.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Well in that case I might as well just spring for everything now.

Soo...

Arcea Card you mentioned above with 8 bay sans digital case.

and The OWC card for External LTO and the OWC 4 bay tower for backup. Three extra fanout eSATA for single eSATA drives?

Hows that setup?

I am a fan of Hitachi though. I guess HDs are a personal preference. For me, I've had nothing but horror stories with WD.

 

[nanofrog]

Well in that case I might as well just spring for everything now.

Soo...

Arcea Card you mentioned above with 8 bay sans digital case.

and The OWC card for External LTO and the OWC 4 bay tower for backup. Three extra fanout eSATA for single eSATA drives?

Hows that setup?

I am a fan of Hitachi though. I guess HDs are a personal preference. For me, I've had nothing but horror stories with WD.

That equipment list would be fine. But I'd recommend you examine an internal card and get more ports to start with for future upgrades (keeps you from having to swap cards as often due to exceeding the port count). It's also financially viable (use internal SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 cables with external enclosures/devices were needed).

As per HDD's, I've actually had the best luck with WD since 2008. Hitachi's QC has been flushed down the toilet since they moved their facility to China, and Seagate's are so bad, there's over a 30% failure rate.

Just make sure you use enterprise grade HDD's from the HDD Compatibility List (found on Areca's Support site) on the Areca. The Qx2 running Green drives would be fast enough for backups.