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Cheap Controller for Raid 5

Rahkesh

n00b
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
27
I've previously been using the ICH9R on my motherboard for keeping a raid array of my drives. I picked up 3 3TB drives recently to RAID5 together but didn't realize that my controller doesn't support bigger than 2TB drives. I was hoping you guys could suggest a cheap controller card I could use to set something up. I don't need it to be very fast, this is mostly used for movies, pictures and document backup.

On the other hand, could I use a software raid here? If my Windows drive died, could I reinstall the OS and would it recognize the software array?

Thanks
 
i like to see at least 4 drives in a raid 5.

but to actually answer the question,, software raid could be used. maybe a NAS distro would be your best bet. MDADM and linux allows the array info to travel with the disks not the host OS. Windows i THINK carries the array info in the host OS so if you lost the host drive the array would be TOAST. (windows people correct me if im wrong there)

a GOOD cheap hardware controller that would work for you would be the adaptec 6405. this is an amazing controller for the pricve they can be found for now. and if you might want to grow to more space find a 6805, they support 8 drives and arent much more expensive. these cards have some amazing features for what they go for on ebay.
 
Dell H310 will also work. Flashable to the LSI firmware as well.

And the Dell H310 is $75 or less on Ebay. (The BIN prices are $75).
 
I think the consumer Windows versions do not even support RAID5. I can absolutely recommend Linux software RAID.
 
I use a mdadm raid5 array with a IR firmware flashed m1015. I've used the same card to read 3TB drives, so that shouldn't be a problem. I am in the process of getting a second card for a transition to ZFSonLinux. The mdadm array has been great for several years now, including a swap to a new system.
 
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