Best way to RAID5 my 3 x Samsung 2TB 5400rpm HD204UI HDDs?

[AkumaX]

Software? Hardware? Onboard?

Windows XP? (has a RAID5 option, after a small .dll hack)
Windows 7? Is there RAID5 for this?

 

[Rifter]

IMO Raid 5 is a bad idea unless you go hardware or linux software raid. Last time i ran raid 5 through windows software raid i was seeing transfers in the 5-10MB/sec range, my ubuntu server running software raid 5 can manage 70-100MB/sec. Windows software raid should be kept to raid 1 or 0 only. You should go with a simple 4 port hardware raid controller.

 

[smashr]

I have 4 of these in a RAID5 on an Areca 1220 hardware controller. The controller is expensive ($400 for the 8 channel and $200 for the 4 channel), but IMHO it is worth it compared to software solutions.

 

[pjkenned]

IMO Raid 5 is a bad idea unless you go hardware or linux software raid.

Just adding to the list RAID-Z

But if you really want to RAID 5 and get good performance get a decent RAID controller w/ onboard cache and a battery back up unit. Performance will be much better.