SATA RAID card needed for NAS box

[tankman1989]

The box this is running on will have a teamed NIC setup so 2Gbps will be the max throughput. This box is going to be a backup device for servers and will run daily backups.

I need a RAID controller card that uses onboard processing, not software/CPU RAID. I have 8-12 500GB drives I would like to run in RAID 50 or 60 (at minimum RAID 6).

I'm not sure how RAID cards work, if they need to have 8 connectors to run 8 drives or if they can capture data from the MOBO inputs. Also, I don't know if it is going to be a problem to use a mix of drives, all 7200rpm WD or Seagate.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this setup? I have some Perc 5i and 6i cards if those would work.

 

[drescherjm]

For NAS boxes you generally do not use a raid card. I mean an HBA + zfs or linux software raid. A lot of commercial devices like a Synology are arm devices running linux software raid. One advantage to this is if the NAS dies you can plug the drives into any PC with enough ports and have acces to your data without needing to buy the same NAS again.

Also, I don't know if it is going to be a problem to use a mix of drives, all 7200rpm WD or Seagate.

Desktop drives will be a problem with a lot of HW raid cards since desktop drives do not have TLER. I would get NAS drives if you insist on a HW card.

if they can capture data from the MOBO inputs

No HW raid cards can't use MOBO ports.

if they need to have 8 connectors to run 8 drives

These days you will have 2 mini SAS connectors on the card (SFF8087) that connect to 8 drives.

I have 8-12 500GB drives

I would sell them all and buy 2 or more USB3 external 2TB drives instead.

 

[jrweis]

Mixed drives will only use the size of the smallest drive in any raid configuration except JBOD.
Example: 2 1tb & 1 750gb configuration will only use 750gb of both 1tb drives.
Also most Seagate drives will work with HW Raid but WD desktop drives will not. Only WD drives to use in raid are Red drives, "RE" drives ,or Raptors.

 

[jrweis]

i-StarUSA makes Backplane HDD cages that allow either four or six 2.5" drives to occupy one 5.25" drive bay. Newegg has the six drive unit in stock:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215222. The 4 drive unit can be had on amazon.

 

[tankman1989]

For NAS boxes you generally do not use a raid card. I mean an HBA + zfs or linux software raid. A lot of commercial devices like a Synology are arm devices running linux software raid. One advantage to this is if the NAS dies you can plug the drives into any PC with enough ports and have acces to your data without needing to buy the same NAS again.


Desktop drives will be a problem with a lot of HW raid cards since desktop drives do not have TLER. I would get NAS drives if you insist on a HW card.



No HW raid cards can't use MOBO ports.


These days you will have 2 mini SAS connectors on the card (SFF8087) that connect to 8 drives.



I would sell them all and buy 2 or more USB3 external 2TB drives instead.

Thanks for the reply.

I don't want to sell these ATM for a number of reasons. I guess I don't mind using software RAID since I have a E6750 dual core (Intel dual core 2.66Ghz) that is going to be doing nothing but processing the RAID calculations.

If this is the case, I guess I could just use standard SATA addon cards for this (keeping in mind the interface speed), the mobo has 8 to begin with.