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Looking for inexpensive RAID 5 controller recommendations

R

rodsfree

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 13, 2004
Messages
1,417
Guys,
I want to build a file server for my network at home. To store movies and stuff on, and to have something to backup my other computers to.
It doesn't have to be fast or huge, but I'd like for it to be reliable and safe.
I was thinking of using something cheap like Dell's SC240 celeron or something similiar with a RAID 5 card.
I want to start with 3 drives and be able to add drives later, as deals and cash allow, without having to rebuild the array and possibly loosing my files.
I don't care if it's PATA or SATA but I can't afford SCSI.

Any Thoughts?

/begin n00b Question
And do the drives all have to be the same size and configuration?
/end n00b Question
 
The drives should all be the same size, or you'll only use the capacity of the smallest disk. So 1 4 gb disk and 5 120gb disks -> 24 gb in raid5. Take out the 4gb, and you'd have 480gb. They don't have to be exactly the same, but I'd reccommend it. Buying a set of 300gb 7200.8s would be my suggestion.

As for a controller, if you want to add drives, the only thing I'm sure will let you do that is the Broadcom bc4852 or similar. It's a software raid card, so it'll be more of a hit on the processor, but it's plenty fast.
 
For a small solution like this, why not do RAID-5 in software? The SC420 you mentioned has plenty of horsepower to do that, esp. if it's just for backup and storage!
 
RAID-5 in software...

Don't tease me - please :D

Gimme some facts - like the name of this uberware.

Does this mean that I could use any non-RAID controller and then use the software to make it act the same way as a RAID card.


 
Linux does it out of the box (so to speak).

You can do it with normal disks and controllers, but you'll still need enough ports. I'm also pretty sure it doesn't have capacity expansion. It may be coming soon, though.
 
I've been doing som googling...

Seems that there's a way to do it in WinXP too.
You have to hexedit 3 files to activate the RAID 5 options but it works after that.
Tom's Hardware has an article on it. Here's the linky .

If this works then it'll save me $250 - $400 just for the controller card. :D



 
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