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RAID5 controller?

I

ilkhan

[H]F Junkie
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Sep 23, 2002
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Looking for a cheap raid5 controller for my array. I have a PCI card that I've been using for RAID1 but my twin 120s ran out of space.

Getting a third and moving to R5. Not my main HDD (have a raptor for that), this is only for storage.

Suggestions?
 
Do it right: 3Ware / LSI / RaidCore (?)
Do it 'ok': Adaptec
Do it, and pray: Promise

Is this going to be PATA or SATA?
 
Well Im using a highpoint controller right now...not sure if thats good or bad...

Anything more specific then that?
 
Ahh yes, add HighPoint to my 'pray' list as well.
I was some how able to scrub them from my mind.

I have 6 x 3Ware cards in production servers and have yet to have a hardware problem with. I wish their UI (3DM) was a little better, but it's been 2 1/2yrs for my oldest 3Ware based server and it has been rock solid. Even with a faulty drive tray that would degrade the array randomly.
Latest machine is a backup server with a 2Tb array for ArcServe. That machine moves around about 600Gb every night and has been better than we could have asked for.

For home, honestly any of them will work. I just like something reliable to save the headaches.
Home file server is a 3Ware 7506-4 that replaced an Adaptec card. While i had no faults with the adaptec hardware, it's interface was even worse.
 
ambit said:
Do it right: 3Ware / LSI / RaidCore (?)
Do it 'ok': Adaptec
Do it, and pray: Promise

Is this going to be PATA or SATA?
Click to expand...
well said, however my promise sx4000 is great.

but overall your list is definately correct :D
 
could you do me a favor and recomend a specific card or series? Price is biggest issue. Remember this is just for home use, and I know just enough to get by, in this field at least. I just want reliable storage where I can get an extra drive and move to RAID5.

I've been going throught he newegg listings and its just giving me a headache :(
 
Promise and Highpoint seem to be the only makers of Raid5 cards that can be uses in PCI 32bit.33mhz slots. But I've only been looking at SATA
 
What is wrong with highpoint? By far has been the most stable card I have used. I have a 3x60G in a raid5 and 4x120G in a raid5.... works like a charm. It is on my file server, but a while back i lost a drive and the system stayed up... I run a rocketraid404 in both my server and my pc. (Although i am raid0 in my pc. 3x160G and 2x40G.

the 3ware cards are $300+ way too expensive for most people.
 
newegg seems to show the rocketraid 404 having good reviews, same as the review sites from around the net.

Anybody *not* recomend this for home use (3xWD1200BBs in R5)?
 
GLSauron said:
newegg seems to show the rocketraid 404 having good reviews, same as the review sites from around the net.

Anybody *not* recomend this for home use (3xWD1200BBs in R5)?
Click to expand...

I have two of them. Just make sure when you get one, flash it to the latest bios. (which at this time is 3.04). One of the earlier bioses had a performance problem. Also, dont waste your money on a 454. All it is a 404 with updated bios. I would not recommend raid 5 if you have a mediocre processor (the downside to this card is XOR is calculated by the cpu). That said, I get acceptable performance from a dual 1GHz. Your mileage may vary. If this will be on your main pc, I would go 4xWD1200BB in a raid0+1. Will be faster. But I found that r5 not that slow either.

Doctor X
 
Silverghost said:
Promise and Highpoint seem to be the only makers of Raid5 cards that can be uses in PCI 32bit.33mhz slots. But I've only been looking at SATA
Click to expand...

Almost every 64bit PCI card can be run in a 32bit slot.

==>Lazn
 
Doctor X said:
That said, I get acceptable performance from a dual 1GHz. Your mileage may vary. If this will be on your main pc, I would go 4xWD1200BB in a raid0+1. Will be faster. But I found that r5 not that slow either.
Click to expand...
2.6C
But not worried about speed, my primary drive is a raptor.
This is just for storage. ISOs, music, movies, etc.
moving from 2x120 R1 -> 3x120 R5 will keep the drive failure protection as well as doubling my storage space.
 
GLSauron said:
2.6C
But not worried about speed, my primary drive is a raptor.
This is just for storage. ISOs, music, movies, etc.
moving from 2x120 R1 -> 3x120 R5 will keep the drive failure protection as well as doubling my storage space.
Click to expand...

Remember with a software based Raid 5 (like the highpoint) if anything accesses your data drive, your CPU will have to: stop what it is doing do a bunch of xor calculations untill whatever is accesing your drive is done, then get back to what you were doing. I do not know how much of an impact you will see with HyperThreading turned on, but with a non HT single proc machine, it is painfull.

Right now the cheapest hardware xor Raid 5 card out there is the Promise SX4000, and this is really the least I would recommend... A good 3ware or LSI card would be much better.

There is a company (I keep forgetting it's name) that makes a IDE RAID 3 card too, that is a good option for a similar price to the SX4000

==>Lazn
 
Why do you not recomend the Promise card?
decision time...
how big of a speed difference (on the promise 4000) will I see going from 3 drives to 4 on sequential writes (100+MB files)?
 
Lazn_Work said:
Remember with a software based Raid 5 (like the highpoint) if anything accesses your data drive, your CPU will have to: stop what it is doing do a bunch of xor calculations untill whatever is accesing your drive is done, then get back to what you were doing. I do not know how much of an impact you will see with HyperThreading turned on, but with a non HT single proc machine, it is painfull.

Right now the cheapest hardware xor Raid 5 card out there is the Promise SX4000, and this is really the least I would recommend... A good 3ware or LSI card would be much better.

There is a company (I keep forgetting it's name) that makes a IDE RAID 3 card too, that is a good option for a similar price to the SX4000

==>Lazn
Click to expand...

I thought it only calc'd XOR on write?
 
Lazn_Work said:
Right now the cheapest hardware xor Raid 5 card out there is the Promise SX4000, and this is really the least I would recommend... A good 3ware or LSI card would be much better.
Click to expand...

Hmm, each and every RAID controller made by Promise (be it SATA or PATA) sports this little marketing gem in their description:

Promise.com said:
Since those parity calculations are so processor-intensive, RAID 5 controllers traditionally require a dedicated CPU to perform the XOR calculations and manage the array. Instead of adding a costly CPU to the controller, Promise's FastTrak SX4060 controller uses an integrated XOR engine for parity calculations, delivering extraordinary performance at a dramatically lower price. This approach takes advantage of today's ultra-powerful PC CPUs to manage the array and outperform traditional RAID 5 solutions. The FastTrak SX4060 sets a new standard for RAID 5 controllers.
Click to expand...

Doesn't this kinda imply there's no real work (work being XOR calculations for RAID 5) being done on the card itself? Or did they just mis-copy & paste?


Lazn_Work said:
Almost every 64bit PCI card can be run in a 32bit slot.
Click to expand...
That's great, but next to no company makes 64/33 cards, and 66MHz cards certainly don't run in 33MHz slots, do they? :\

The RAID 5-capable SATA (didn't look that hard for PATA) controller situation (ok, given you don't want a host CPU solution) is pretty bleak at the moment for people who don't have a server mainboard around. I figure the Tekram SIR-1220 (and it's 4-port companion) would be nice, but what mainboard even has a PCI Express X4 slot?
(Abusing a dual-x16 mainboard would be a solution, albeit a rather crappy one.)
 
did this ever get resolved?
Still looking for a controller...
R5, PATA, standard PCI slot...cheap...
 
8tImER said:
Doesn't this kinda imply there's no real work (work being XOR calculations for RAID 5) being done on the card itself? Or did they just mis-copy & paste?

That's great, but next to no company makes 64/33 cards, and 66MHz cards certainly don't run in 33MHz slots, do they? :\
Click to expand...

I am not sure of the 4060, but the 4000 has a procesor on it...

As for 66mhz cards can almost always work at 33mhz, this is more common than even 64bit ones working at 32bits..
eg this: http://www.ioiscsi.com/products/5201u3w.shtml
"The IOI-5201U3W is a highly integrated Dual-Channel Wide Ultra160 SCSI to 64-bit 66 MHz PCI host adapter . It is backward compatible with 32-bit/33 MHz buses."

==>Lazn
 
I have a 64/66 card working in a 32/33 slot, a 64/133 in a 64/66 slot, and a 32/66 in a 64/66 slot... I also have a 64/33 card that used to be in a 64/66 slot & works in a 32/33 slot, but I'm not using it anymore. The thing that often won't work is a 32/33 card in a 66+MHz slot. The 66+MHz slots are often 3.3V only, and 32/33 cards are often 5V only. I do have one 32/33 card than can go in a 3.3V slot though... NV GF2MX200 believe it or not. Oh, and the cards & slots are keyed so you can't put the wrong voltage in. Your typical 64-bit card will have both the 3.3V and 5V notches, and will work in either.
 
Yes, the 64 Bit 66 MHz cards will work in normal PCI slots.

I've got an SX6000 using six 80 Gb Maxtors, couldn't be happier. Sometime soon I'm going to jump to a 9500-8 by 3Ware though, and load it up with 200 GB Seagates. ;)
 
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