How would I know if a SATA raid controller is hardware based?

[YoYoBabyYo]

I am looking for an SATA raid controller. I only need two connectors for two drives. I was looking at the inventory on newegg, but my question is how would I know if the RAID is hardware based or software based?

 

[ribbon13]

If it costs $300+ it's hardware based. If its under $100 it's soft RAID

 

[cubby1223]

If you want cheap hardware raid, check out Promise. If you want something good, begin with the 3ware controller.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
If it costs $300+ it's hardware based. If its under $100 it's soft RAID

Are you serious?

 

[ribbon13]

$275 3Ware 8506-4LP

Best deal you're likely to find.

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: YoYoBabyYo

Originally posted by: ribbon13
If it costs $300+ it's hardware based. If its under $100 it's soft RAID

Are you serious?

I'm totally serious. Want to see for yourself?

Do you have PCI-express slots?
You can definately see where hardware cards begin and software ends

Theres a lot more PCI versions, but I think this one may be what you're looking for.

Are you going for RAID5 right? Thats the only reason to seek a hardware based card.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

I do not have a pci-express slot. I am only going for RAID 1. Would RAID 1 really consume a lot of CPU power and slow down my computer significantly?

 

[ribbon13]

RAID1 will be slower than a single drive regardless if it's software or hardware, but if you're going for data sercurity, it's not going to matter much. The calcs in software RAID rely on your processor. What CPU do you have? If you can afford that S150 SX4-M, it looks to be the best deal.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

I am just looking for data security. My CPU is a P4 2.8 HT prescott, and I am running 1 gig of ram in dual channel. Also, I was wondering if it would be better to set up the RAID through my mobo (Abit A17) SATA ports instead. Thanks for all your help ribbon13.

 

[ribbon13]

If you do that, your RAID1 will be inexplicably tied to the motherboard's HBA. If you ever upgrade to something more decent, you'll lose your array. Depending on your controller, with RAID1 you may not actually lose any data though. But you can always backup your data to a large external drive or something right? Your computers CPU should be be able handle softraid just fine.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Thanks Ribbon13 for all your help! Much appreciation!

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
RAID1 will be slower than a single drive regardless if it's software or hardware, but if you're going for data sercurity, it's not going to matter much. The calcs in software RAID rely on your processor. What CPU do you have? If you can afford that S150 SX4-M, it looks to be the best deal.

I've got a SX4100, which I got for $230, and which I think is great.

 

[V00D00]

RAID 1 doesn't require a lot of CPU power, it's basically just copying the files to each drive. RAID 5 has a lot of calculations to do for the parity so it consumes much more cpu power. You will probably not notice any cpu hit from using a RAID 1 array. I know that I can't tell. I'm just using the onboard for 2x Seagate 300gb in RAID 1. Works great for me.

 

[SnoMunke]

I have 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815104263 in a 6 HDD RAID 10 configuration...my motherboard BIOS has problems with 3 controllers, but Windows sees them fine....

For what you want to do, this controller will work fine. BTW, don't you have onboard SATA ports?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah just run the RAID 1 off of your motherboard's onboard SATA ports. It's a lot cheaper than buynig a seperate RAID card.

 

[spc hink]

Are you using raid for redundency or back-up

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

I do have two SATA ports on my mobo, but those will also be occupied with a drive running the OS, and a spare drive for storage. I have two 160 GB Seagate SATA drives that I would like to set up in a RAID, just to back up my important files. I do have this host adapter, I am not sure whether it would be better to use the host adapter to soft RAID it or just get another card that supports hard RAID. Any suggestion(s) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Well, I tried to mirror two drives in Windows XP, but the mirror option was grayed out even when I converted my two drives to dynamic disk. I googled for an answer, but it was reported by a few that Windows XP does not support mirror RAID, but other RAID functions.

But back to shopping for a hardware based RAID 1 card, I take a look at what ebay has to offer, but how the hell do I know if the cards are hard RAID or soft RAID?

Would this card perform a hardware based RAID 1?

 

[ribbon13]

Nope. Refer to my first reply. But it doesn't matter anyway. The card uses the CPU and a low level so it wont matter to you anyway. You don't need a hardware based card for RAID1. It's RAID5 and related that need it.