RAID card recommendations

[panteragstk]

I have an older server that only has pci slots available for any type of raid card. I'm looking for a SATA 3gbps card that supports raid 5 preferably 6. This is for future use for when I can build my WHS server. I just need SATA ports for this motherboard other than the onboard 1.5gbps ports that were pretty much one of the first motherboards to support sata. I don't even think it supports 1tb drives. So what are you guys using?

[S_M_E]

I think we've had this conversation before but RAID on WHS can cause problems so, if you try it, don't put anything on it that you don't want to lose or don't have backed up elswhere. That said, you'll find that 3ware and adaptech cards are well made and both should have 8+ port RAID 6 cards available at a price.

I stopped using RAID during the betas because it caused too much trouble, now I just use my onboard SATAII ports from my Abit AB9-Pro mobo. By switching the drives from RAID to IDE mode on the mobo, my drive issues went away, execpt I did have an old, used, smaller drive fail once but that would have happened either way.

Good luck...

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by S_M_E

I think we've had this conversation before but RAID on WHS can cause problems so, if you try it, don't put anything on it that you don't want to lose or don't have backed up elswhere. That said, you'll find that 3ware and adaptech cards are well made and both should have 8+ port RAID 6 cards available at a price.

I stopped using RAID during the betas because it caused too much trouble, now I just use my onboard SATAII ports from my Abit AB9-Pro mobo. By switching the drives from RAID to IDE mode on the mobo, my drive issues went away, execpt I did have an old, used, smaller drive fail once but that would have happened either way.

Good luck...

I think we have had this conversation before. Interesting. Since whs has a "raid 5 ish" solution I guess I won't need that functionality. Just a good reliable card with many ports should do. The only thing I don't like about whs is the fact that you can't add drives that already have data on them. But that is another discussion altogether.

Thanks

EDIT. Those adaptech and 3-wire cards would cost the same as rebuilding my server. WOW. Are any other brands worth considering? Of course skimping on these has given me problems in the past. Thoughts?

[tmiranda]

Look on fleeBay for cheap used RAID cards. You can get older 3Ware and Adaptec cards for about $50.00. Either brand will do fine just make sure you get a real hardware RAID card. Stay away from software RAID.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

The only thing I don't like about whs is the fact that you can't add drives that already have data on them. But that is another discussion altogether.

True... but, you could always pick up another, empty drive, add that to the pool, hook up the drive with existing data and NOT add that one to the pool, and then copy the data over to the share. Once you do that, just add the old drive to the pool and be done with it.

EDIT. Those adaptech and 3-wire cards would cost the same as rebuilding my server. WOW. Are any other brands worth considering? Of course skimping on these has given me problems in the past. Thoughts?

So, based on your other response, you want a PCI card with multiple 3Gb/s SATA ports?

Have you checked out the Addonics cards, such as this $70 one?

[Peter_h]

I would not completely rule out RAID on WHS. Many people do run it and do it successfully. I have a RAID 1 on my OS and it works fine.

If you are serious about it, I highly recommending giving it a test run for about a week before you do any data migration or major configuration. If WHS doens't like your RAID, it will let you know by flooding your event log.

However, I am trying to understand why you would want to run a RAID 5 or RAID 6 on what I presume is the data when WHS has it's own version of a software RAID running.

As far as SATA Port cards, I also ran out of on Board SATA ports and bought this card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=sata%20card

It is an 8 port card and right at $100. It does not support RAID but I don't need it to.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

I would not completely rule out RAID on WHS. Many people do run it and do it successfully. I have a RAID 1 on my OS and it works fine.

If you are serious about it, I highly recommending giving it a test run for about a week before you do any data migration or major configuration. If WHS doens't like your RAID, it will let you know by flooding your event log.

However, I am trying to understand why you would want to run a RAID 5 or RAID 6 on what I presume is the data when WHS has it's own version of a software RAID running.

As far as SATA Port cards, I also ran out of on Board SATA ports and bought this card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=sata%20card

It is an 8 port card and right at $100. It does not support RAID but I don't need it to.

Thanks for the recommendation. The key word in your statement about whs raid is software raid. I'm looking for a hardware sulution, but if whs' version is that good then I will use that when the time comes. I just need a multi port sata card then. As long as the pci bus isn't "overcrowded" or too slow for my data requirements (ripped blu-ray's to my sage box) I will be happy.

EDIT: Is that card going to work well with 32bit pci? i see that it is pci x

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Thanks for the recommendation. The key word in your statement about whs raid is software raid. I'm looking for a hardware sulution, but if whs' version is that good then I will use that when the time comes. I just need a multi port sata card then. As long as the pci bus isn't "overcrowded" or too slow for my data requirements (ripped blu-ray's to my sage box) I will be happy.

EDIT: Is that card going to work well with 32bit pci? i see that it is pci x

From Wikipedia.

"PCI-X is generally backward-compatible with most cards based on the PCI 2.x[1] or later standard, meaning that, a PCI-X card can be installed in a PCI slot, provided it has the correct voltage keying for the slot and (if inserting into a 32-bit slot) nothing obstructs the overhanging part of the edge connector. "

I have it in a PCI slot, works fine. There are a couple users in the review that are also using it in a PCI slot.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

From Wikipedia.

"PCI-X is generally backward-compatible with most cards based on the PCI 2.x[1] or later standard, meaning that, a PCI-X card can be installed in a PCI slot, provided it has the correct voltage keying for the slot and (if inserting into a 32-bit slot) nothing obstructs the overhanging part of the edge connector. "

I have it in a PCI slot, works fine. There are a couple users in the review that are also using it in a PCI slot.

I just got through looking that up. Thanks. My only concern would be bandwidth limitations of the pci bus. I just don't want my video to lag. I doubt that would happen, but who knows?

Thanks for the advice. That card looks good to me.

[AWS]

I've looked into this because I run a SCSI RAID with ultra320 drives attached to a PCI-X (64-bit) slot (not for HTPC use). On a normal PCI slot running at 33MHz you'll get 127ish MB/sec pushed through.

AWS

[IVB]

FWIW, I documented my learnings in setting up a HW-based RAID5 here.

I know it isn't WHS, but most of the stuff there is true regardless of O/S.

[bhyman1]

Check these out. They don't do hardware RAID but they work perfectly with WHS. Also, they work just fine in a regular 32-bit PCI slot with no issues. I have two myself.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815121009