Junking your old servers leads to a fruitless Raid

Users waste thousands of pounds by having to ditch servicable storage systems when they replace their clapped-out servers, according to UK Raid vendor Artecon.

Artecon, which sells platform-independent Raid systems, claimed that by buying integral Raid along with their servers, users are throwing money away because Raid systems last about five years, whereas servers usually need to be changed after three.

"When a user puts in a new server it also needs a matching storage system.

This means the user ends up throwing out a Raid system that could have lasted up to three years longer," said Robert Taylor, Artecon's UK manager.

To back up his argument Taylor referred to a UK bank, which he claimed had to replace as many as 20 Raid systems about three years before their time because it wanted to change its servers.

However, Hewlett-Packard, which sells both integrated and attachable Raid systems, said that customers get what they pay for.

Bruno Sirletti, a business unit server manager for HP, insisted that most high-end Raid cards are not affected by the server hardware. However, he admitted: "Some of our mid-range servers, like the LH range, would have that problem. It's tough on the customer but if you go for the lower cost then what can you do?"

Sirletti also argued that most low-end Raid systems have a lifespan which is comparable to that of a server.