RAID 5 now with expansion option?

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mykel31

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Apr 3, 2008
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I would like to get 3x 750GB disks in a RAID 5 array for the time being in one massive partition (1.5TB in one partition); however, i would like the ability to expand on that at a later date. Are there any cards that would allow me to add more 750's at a later date, increasing the size of the one partition without losing the already written data? I would like a card that goes up to 8.

thank in advance!
 
This is the one I have: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116042
Had issues with Vista that all seem about worked out. Main problem now being one of the SP1 updates messes with my second PCIE port and knocks the card out at boot, forcing me to revert pre-SP1. But its a decent card and it wasn't as expensive as some others.

this one seems to foot the bill for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116044

Like I say, the SP1 issue aside, and waiting forever for official drivers (which they now have) I can now say it was worth the money as opposed to the crappy onboard Raid I was using on my Asus board which would disconnect one of the drives every few months until it started getting progressively worse with daily re-builds.

Others may have better suggestions, but I thought it was worth mentioning this comapny since i like it.
 
I love my RR2320 and can attest that it has no problem doing OCE. Now, your filesystem being able to expand, that I leave up to someone else unless you are running Linux.
 
Adaptec tends to be rather pricey. I'd suggest an Areca 1220 if you want a good hardware RAID or something along those lines. The RR2320 would be a good option if you just need 8 ports and you aren't hugely concerned with performance.

My guess is you're storing video of lots of files where transfer speed isn't a huge concern so any RAID card with 8 ports and OCE is all you should need. Also keep in mind booting off of the arrays can sometimes be problematic if you planned on doing that.
 
sweet. thanks a lot guys. i plan on booting off a smaller sata drive (like a 120 or whatever slickdeals has a hit on) and then having my one massive partition. i'm not terribly concerned with speed since it is a good section of video and photo (not pr0n, sorry, 5 yrs of photography and my web site server :) www.gurnard.us if there's any interest.

btw i planned on picking up windows 2008 (for free at the recent msn convention!!) and sql server on there too. is there anything i should know about in regards to raid before i invest in such a system?
 
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