Choosing the right hardware for your server can be a confusing task, especially given the frequency with which Intel and other manufacturers roll out new products. New CPUs, memory chips, and hard drives seem to be released every hour. Frequently, people get caught up in the latest new whiz feature and forget some of the basics. Most database activity is bound by the speed of the I/O subsystem. Try to obtain many smaller disks rather than one large one. If you can, split up your disks onto multiple SCSI controllers or at least different channels, and never, ever, dump onto the same drive that you are backing up from. Instead, have another subsystem on a separate SCSI channel (either a fast tape unit or hard drive array) devoted to that task.