Fileserver RAID 1 Upgrade - ATA or SATA?

[samuraijake]

I'm looking to install a RAID 1 array in my fileserver (Win 2000; PII 400; 512 PC100). As the IDE ports on the motherboard are filled and it doesn't support RAID anyway, I'll be purchasing a PCI controller for the two-disk array. My question: Will the older motherboard (Asus P2B) support a PCI controller for SATA drives? I'd like to use SATA drives so when the server is upgraded they will plug into the new mobo's SATA ports. Does an old motherboard allow a PCI SATA controller? Or am I stuck with PATA until I upgrade the motherboard? (The array will be for file storage, i.e. non-bootable). Thanks for any input.

 

[JeffBlair]

You should be able to use the PCI card with no problems. If you want to use it in a RAID-1 array, you have 2 choices. Either hardware or software RAID. Hardware RAID cards will cost you about $100US+. Windows 2000 will let you create dynamic drives, and create a RAID-1 that way. It will take a little more overhead, but you can spend less on the card. It depends on what you need.

 

[Hacp]

Ok, sorry to be off topic, but this is kind of related. Do ATA-100 hard drives perform worse at raid-0 than sata150? I know that UATA-100 drives perform at the same rate as SATA150, but I'm not sure about raid 0. Someone knowledgable please speak up!

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I don't know exactly what caused it, but I noticed incredible increases in performance going from a RAID 1 or RAID 0 arrays on a IDE 6-port RAID controller to a SATA 8-port RAID controller (RAID 5 array)... I don't know if it was the drives, the interface, or the controller, but I was amazed.
Tas.

 

[JeffBlair]

It was going from RAID 0 to RAID5. It splits the writing between 3 drives, so it is a little quicker. Now reads might slow down, but it is a nice trade off incase a hard drive crashes on you. 🙂