Fiber Channel

Fiber Channel was the server industry standard method for high speed, high reliability connections between servers and storage devices. It was replaced with SAS, and devices can now be found at bargain basement prices.

Fiber Channel Hard Drives can pump almost 1GiB per second, and are dirt cheap on eBay ($14 for 300GB). This makes it cheap and easy to create a extremely fast RAID setup.

However, connecting a Fiber Channel device to a desktop computer can be a challenge, but it's not impossible and it probably shouldn't be too costly.

Components

Cheap Fiber Channel PCI Cards

While the best Fiber Channel PCI cards can go for $200, unless you've got a server rack, it's not what you need. Just grab a $20 entry level card and you'll be fine.

• $20 - Agilent QLogic QFBR 5913L - An entry level Fiber Channel PCI card with one port. Good enough for the casual user. Check eBay for it.

Fiber Channel Cables

Fiber channel cables are dirt cheap. The best way to get some is to check your local electronics recycling area; if they get a lot of server racks, there will be fiber in the bins.

Otherwise, you can get a short one for $10 here.

Fiber Channel Hard Drives

Despite their extremely high performance (1GB per second), Fiber Channel Hard drives from servers are dirt cheap on eBay, simply because there is very low demand and oversupply. 300GB costs only $14.

One major downside is that while desktop drives use only 7 watts, Fiber Channel Drives can use 15-20 watts apiece. Thus, while these hard drives are great for high performance server applications, it's not for everyone.

We recommend using it as a very fast RAID backup system (4-8 drives) that stays turned off until you need it. That way, it isn't sucking up power until it has to be used.

RAID Setup

The best way to use Fiber Channel Hard Disks is as a RAID setup with multiple disk drives. Since they are used, they may be a bit more prone to failure (and no warranty), but you can pool the risk by using tons of different types all at once.

Sources

• Phfactor - Intro to Fiber Channel
• Tom's Hardware - Fiber Channel Disk Setup
• Seagate - How do I connect a Fiber Channel HDD to my Desktop PC?
• Tom's Hardware - What is a Fiber Channel HDD?
• StorageReview Forums - Home Server using Fiber Channel
• Areca Case Study - Intel Fiber Channel RAID