Going to get a IDE/PCI RAID-1 Controller

[ssoni223]

I am running XP-SP2 (And will be for quite some time)
I have two 300GB Maxtors.
I'd like to have a RAID-1 setup to mirror my drive as a backup.

Can anyone recc. a RAID controller card for my purposes?

I see these 2 at geeks.com. Good enough?

ITE IT8212F UDMA/133 IDE RAID PCI Controller Card
$13.99 - VIEW ITEM

VIA VT6410 UDMA/133 IDE RAID Controller PCI Card
$14.99 - VIEW ITEM

Thanks for any help.

 

[RebateMonger]

I have no experience with low-end PCI RAID cards. I HAVE succesfully used the $50-$70 HighPoint RocketRAID 133 card. Frankly, I have horrible experiences with VIA chipsets on motherboards and I'm always hesitant to use anything VIA.

In your situation, my recommendation would be to buy a good, fan-cooled USB drive housing and put one of the 300GB drives into that. Use that for ongoing backups of the 300GB drive in the PC. I'd keep the external drive disconnected and in a safe place as much as possible. Doing it this way is a LOT safer than any RAID1 array by itself.

Once you have a backup system in place and are using it, THEN consider a RAID1 array.

 

[Zepper]

These work well: http://e3wwwtest.newegg.com/Pr...x?Item=N82E16816132004

I like Silicon Image based cads.

.bh.

 

[ssoni223]

RebateM,

Here is my plan:
Drive 1) Do a fresh XP install. Install all my apps. And MyDocs
Drive 2) Mirror drive 1 and store in desk
Drive 3) Daily external USB backup of myDocs.
Drive 4) Add this as a RAID-1 live mirror drive of Drive 1

So, yes, I also need a more transparent solution for external backup as well. I used to simply mirror my entire drive (w/ Acronis), and then disconnect the slave. However, I didn't do it frequently enough, and got screwed when I had to revert to a 9 month backup. (Kick self in head....20 times)


Q: What's the easiest way to schedule a daily/seamless copy of myDocuments/ onto an external USB HD?

 

[Zepper]

There is a new trimmed-down version of Retrospect for HD that you should be able to schedule any group of files for regular backup. That's from http://www.SmithMicro.com . Then VCom has some kind of simplified backup software called Autosave 2 that should be able to do what you want as well. That's at http://www.v-com.com

.bh.

 

[ssoni223]

Rosewill is sold out at newegg.
Can u recc. any other RAID PCI IDE card?
Thanks!

 

[Zepper]

This one is the one I try to keep on hand : http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16815124001 , but the last time I looked the price was at $25. + sh. Now that they have this deal going, I should grab another... It comes with only one cable so if you need another it would be wise to order them together. The $20.00 Sabrent card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16815123009 is pretty much the same - if it comes with two cables it might be worth the difference. It only has one cable but it is made in Taiwan instead of China so it might be worth the extra anyway - besides it's red... 😉

.bh.

 

[ssoni223]

It got awful reviews. I think I'm gonna avoid this. You know, I don't mind spending a few bucks to ensure this works right. Anything more highend and more reliable?

 

[Zepper]

http://www.Geeks.com has a couple both with different chipsets than the ones I linked above. They are cheap enough to buy one of each to see how they work for you. I don't know why those guys are having such trouble with the SiliconImage based cards. Granted I mainly use them for just standard HDD controllers (say, if the on-board ones die or need extra ports - no drivers needed for that at all) but I've almost never had any problem with them unless they were just DOA. I also DL the latest drivers from the SiliconImage chipset site. It's obvious that the mfr's of these cheap generic add-on cards aren't going to be high on support.

eWiz.com also seems to have decent prices on Highpoint and Promise cards. LSI also makes an ATA RAID card but it's kind of hard to find.

.bh.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Kouwell makes decent Silicon-Image based PCI IDE controller cards. I think NewEgg carries them too. RAID or NON-RAID, as long as they are shipped with a flash BIOS and not a OTP EEPROM, then you can flash them to whichever mode you need.

 

[Zepper]

I've never liked Kouwell stuff - I've had stuff like undersized PCI plug (card could shift in the socket and contacts then don't lline up, etc.) Besides, you put it side by side with the Syba card and I'll be surprised if you can see a difference. Here they are one above the other: http://i52.photobucket.com/alb...pper0/side-by-side.jpg . But you can pay a lot more for the same card if you want - buy it with the Startech name on it... :roll: .

.bh.