Small backup server RAID card opinions

ToddW2

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I am looking to setup a small off-site backup server for my web server.
I plan to use 2 x WD 1TB Blacks in RAID 1. I may in the future want to add some more drives, and possibly go to RAID5. The windows boot/software drive is also a WD Black.

I`m looking at:

LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i

And am wondering if there are better options. Reliability is important to me. I don't want to worry about over heating, or failures.

This will most likely be running Windows 2003 Server with up to two users on at once, one local and one RDP, and also will be used for the main purpose storing data off my primary web-server.

I currently have a P5LD2 Deluxe motherboard that supports RAID, but I`m unsure if it's "true" hardware raid or software raid stored on a chip on the mobo.... I am looking for a true hardware raid something that in the future I can move to new servers, something of high-quality.

I`m basically looking for some items to add to this computer to make it stable for a long period of time. Prior to 2009 it ran 24/7 since I built it which was around 3.5 years, so I know the rest of the system is up to the task.

What would you use for a raid controller?
 
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I find it hard to believe no one here knows what a quality controller is :(
 
Well you asked on a sunday evening.
Also do you have a budget?

What do I use? Areca 1680x

9260 above is a good card (specs) but the management sucks. Areca web management rocks!
But the Areca's are expensive, you get what you pay for.

If the Areca's are too much look at the Highpoint 43xx series, they have web management and are solid cards.

Areca 1680i - $650
HPT 4320 - $350
 
Budget is <$400

Unless something is insanely better about a card over that price.
 
Well for starters since you are just doing Raid1 you dont need best of breed unless you just want to.
But If I were buying a RAID card today and I had $400 in hand I would buy a HPT 4320

The only reason to get one of those LSI/3ware cards is for SAS2/SATA6.0, but unless you have SSDs or a lot of drives to the point you are hitting a STP bottleneck, then there is no advantage.

Also the brief time i got to use a 9260-8i it was just miserable because the java based management software was slow, reset itself when a drive was inserted or removed, and was just a PITA to use.

HPT's web mgt is fast, responsive and easier to use. It also has 8 ports so you can expand easily.
 
I currently have a P5LD2 Deluxe motherboard that supports RAID, but I`m unsure if it's "true" hardware raid or software raid stored on a chip on the mobo.... I am looking for a true hardware raid something that in the future I can move to new servers, something of high-quality.
Very very few mobos today have true hardware controllers. That mobo does not.
 
Well for starters since you are just doing Raid1 you dont need best of breed unless you just want to.
But If I were buying a RAID card today and I had $400 in hand I would buy a HPT 4320

The only reason to get one of those LSI/3ware cards is for SAS2/SATA6.0, but unless you have SSDs or a lot of drives to the point you are hitting a STP bottleneck, then there is no advantage.

Also the brief time i got to use a 9260-8i it was just miserable because the java based management software was slow, reset itself when a drive was inserted or removed, and was just a PITA to use.

HPT's web mgt is fast, responsive and easier to use. It also has 8 ports so you can expand easily.

Thanks, I wanted something good that will last me many years to come. I`ll check that other one out.


Very very few mobos today have true hardware controllers. That mobo does not.

I figured as much :(
 
This is to just backup data to? Go buy a Intel 40GB SSD, install 2k8 on it, buy a few drives 1TB or whatnot, and put them in software raid1 in windows. Why drop money on a hardware raid controller when you're not taking advantage of it at all?
 
I am looking to setup a small off-site backup server for my web server.

This is to just backup data to? Go buy a Intel 40GB SSD, install 2k8 on it, buy a few drives 1TB or whatnot, and put them in software raid1 in windows. Why drop money on a hardware raid controller when you're not taking advantage of it at all?

This is to backup my webserver data off-site.
I've had shitty luck with "Software" raid solutions... thus I want the REAL thing. If I`m using it for RAID how am I not taking advantage to it at all?
This would also let me expand greatly in the future.
 
Anyone else have any opinions on a hardware raid card????
I totally concur with nitrobass24's earlier recommendations. They seem to be really decent cards
If I`m using it for RAID how am I not taking advantage to it at all?
I think bexamous meant was that for RAID 1, generally a true hardware RAID controller is overkill. Generally when a true hardware RAID controller is used, it's used for RAID 5 and the like.

But if your experience with fakeRAID and/or software RAID is THAT shitty, then yeah, go ahead and spend the $350 for that Highpoint controller that Nitrobass24 recommended.
 
Another idea, is to spend ~$400 and find an Adaptec 5805 w/ BBU. Fast, cheap, reliable, and if you are going to run raid 5 and a controller w/ cache, may as well get a BBU. I'm pretty much exclusively using Adaptec's and Areca's at this point. I like Areca web management, but I don't mind having 6 Adaptec systems all accessible via the single Adaptec applicaion. I'm not 100% sure about Highpoint's market share, but I would venture that Adaptec, Areca, and LSI have quite a bit more, and probably for good reason.
 
Where are you seeing the 5805 w/BBU for $400 or less. The 5805 alone is around $580.

I possibly will expand to RAID10 in the future... thus the need for a good card too :)
 
Money has become an issue.

What would be considered a high-end software based raid card :eek:
 
Well if you are going to stick to RAID1 for a while, just use the onboard RAID or even windows/linux RAID.
It will be fine for RAID1.

Then when you have funds just get a RAID card and a couple drives.
 
RAID 0 and 1 simply split the data over multiple drives and mirror the data to multiple drives, respectively. With RAID5, you're computing parity every time you do a write. With all the parity calculations, software RAID will suck up a lot of CPU cycles, so a good RAID card helps tremendously. On other RAID levels without parity, onboard software RAID controllers can dump the data down an additional cable just about as well as an expensive card.
 
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