Hardware fakeRAID vs Linux software RAID

[Atheus]

I have an Adaptec 1220SA 2 port SATA RAID controller and 2 Seagate drives which I'm going to use in my home server in RAID-1. Am I better off using the BIOS RAID functionality of the card or just having it as a SATA controller and using Linux software RAID to mirror the drives?

If anyone has links to performance numbers that would be good, and what about reliability?

 

[Blain]

What's up with all the "Fake" RAID comments?
Controller card or onboard, are both real "RAID" solutions.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Blain
What's up with all the "Fake" RAID comments?
Controller card or onboard, are both real "RAID" solutions.

I'm not trying to insult the humble Silicon Image 3112, but the fact is, it does not actually do RAID calculations on the hardware - it uses the host system. This is as opposed to a 'real' hardware RAID card like the 3Ware 9000 series. FakeRAID is just a term used by sysadmins to distinguish between the two types of card.

 

[Bremen]

I'd recommend the linux software raid (mdadm). It gets big pluses from me for its portability across controllers. I've already had to move my array between four different systems because of problems with old hardware. Also there can be some nasty quirks when using native drivers. I'm not sure if its a problem with your particular chipset, but better safe than sorry.