Nooby question: RAID controllers...

Phrik

Phrik

Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
636
Ok, like with many things, I'm a total noob. Yes, I have read so many articles about it, but I can't seem to figure it out and find the answer to my question to my needed situation...so here it goes...

Situation...
I want to buy a RAID controller so I can add more drives for my data/media server.
I used up all my SATA ports on the mobo.
I will only be using WD20EARS green drives, as it's most affordable from where I am.
I want to be able to expand a maximum of 8 more drives in a years time.
I don't want to use any RAID setup.

Question...
Do I have to use the RAID feature on these RAID controllers, or I can just set it up as normal drives ?
Does it have to be a RAID controller ?
Will I be able to only use these drives on these RAID controllers only ?
Will the WD20EARS be okay to be used on RAID controllers, even if I don't do a RAID setup ? I read that WD20EARS (or any WD desktop drives) are problematic in RAID setups.

Looking at...
HighPoint RocketRAID 2320, it is for up to 8 HDDs, and is PCIe, all I need.
Recommendations ?


Thanks a lots !
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
drescherjm said:
I would skip the raid controller and get a hba. How many ports do you want? What is your budget for the card?

I recommend the Intel SASUC8I for 8 additional ports.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117157

You will need 2 break out cables for that to use all 8 ports. Something like this.
http://cgi.ebay.com/LSI-3Ware-SFF-8087-Discrete-Forward-Breakout-Cable-/160358394678
Click to expand...

Cool that was quick, I only finished up editing, as I mis-clicked earlier...

But I will check those out !
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Got a budget of max 300 bucks (not including HDDs), any lesser cost will always play nice with my wallet ;)
 
A lot of places are saying they also use a SAS expander for that, but to what point or use ?
Click to expand...

You can use an expander if you need loads of ports. Some expanders take a single 4 port sas and split that into 36 ports sharing the bandwidth of the original 4 ports. I use these at work but I generally do not need more than 16 SATA ports so two SASUC8I cards in my case are better (faster and cheaper) than 1 SASUC8I + an expander. And I get full bandwidth on all ports.
 
Cool, you think that Intel controller will have any issues with WD20EARS ? Can't find many reviews about that card..
 
I do not use EARS drives on this controller (mostly wdc black and hitachi 2TB 7200 rpm drives) however since you will be not using RAID you do not have to worry about TLER problems that occur when using HW/fake RAID5/6 with drives that do not support TLER.

or I can just set it up as normal drives ?
Click to expand...

This is what I do.
 
drescherjm said:
I recommend the Intel SASUC8I for 8 additional ports.
Click to expand...

Just wondering, I understand that this is PCIe 1.0 @ x8, will I get the same performance if I plug that thing into a PCIe 2.0 @ x4 ?

I found a mobo that has two x16 slots (mechanically), both PCIe 2.0, but set as x16 and x4.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top