4 port sata controller raid card pci-e

[djdrew201]

I am looking to expand my sata drive capability adn need to know, if I buy a sata RAID controller card, do I "have" to set it up as raid or can it be use for independent sata drives in a non-raid environment?

hope I haven't made it confusing...most sata expandable cards are only 2 ports and I wish to have 4 ports that are available for less cost on a raid card...

is that simpler?

Thanks in advance

 

[mfenn]

I'm hesitant to make a blanket statement without knowing what card you're interested in, but what the hell, this is the Internet. I'd be absolutely shocked to discover a RAID card that required drives to be in a RAID set, I've certainly never seen one outside of $10,000+ enterprise arrays. When in doubt, always go and grab the manual for the card you're considering. I'll lay out all the possibilities.

 

[djdrew201]

This was a simple card for a PCI slot (older computer for a friend) not needing a PCi-e

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...F8&me=&seller=

thanks for the quick reply, and tips...

I can't get my threads posted to my e-mail for some reason to notify me of replies

 

[mfenn]

Looking at the manual, yes the SiL3114 has the capability to create non-redundant volumes. It variously calls them JBOD and Contiguous.

 

[djdrew201]

Thanks so very much for the tips