EXPERT RESPONSE
Sorry to hear about your recent Server+ experience. If it's any consolation, word on the street is that this exam is harder than your typical CompTIA test and that pass/fail ratios are correspondingly more tilted toward the former and away from the latter than other CompTIA exams. As for RAID configurations and number of drives, the answer really depends on what kind of RAID configuration you're talking about and what capabilities the RAID controller brings to the party. In some cases, a lower number of drives may actually outperform a higher number, particularly when one of the more esoteric parity- or error-management arrangements is in use.
As for best study materials for Server+, Trevor Kay's Server+ Certification Bible from Wiley (ISBN: 0764548093) generally gets the best marks; you'll probably find the Exam Cram reasonably helpful, too. Keep in mind, however, that a new version of the Server+ exam is coming (the beta version based on the 2004 objectives just closed in mid-October), and a new version of the exam will be publicly available early in 2005. Thus, unless you're planning on a retake pretty soon (before April 2005, anyway) you may have to switch to the new exam objectives, which make all existing books more or less obsolete anyway.
As for your age and experience, while it is indeed tougher for those over 50 to find work in high tech (I'm 52 myself, and know whereof you speak), it's by no means impossible. Given your experience and drive, I can say that if you keep at it and work to remedy those areas where you had trouble on the last Server+ exam you took, you should not only pass, but you should also be able to find the kind of job you want!
Good luck!
--Ed--
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