On 05/12/99 10:04:02 you wrote:
Try looking into the Dell Solution. I have a F720 in house from Dell that has their 18G drives attached. If you are looking for a cheaper solution ... an F720 with Dell drives might be the way to go.
I find it hard to believe that Dell would sell the same model as Netapp at a cheaper price. Dell and Netapp are supposedly cooperating to divide the NAS market into pieces they each can exploit effectively. If Dell is just going to resell Netapp's at a cheaper price, what's the point?
As to cheaper solutions than Netapp that allow you to add 1 disk at a time, no, I'm not aware of one. EMC claimed this could be done with RAID-5 but were unable to come clean with the full story. RAID-4 has many advantages and no other vendor can offer that because they don't have Netapp's technology.
The fact the disks are more expensive shouldn't bother you; you get quality for the money. If you want to look at it another way, then just tell yourself the disks are exactly the same price you'd get elsewhere, and you're just paying a premium for the filer's unmatched performance and reliability.
Bruce