• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Needing help with a purchase of a RAID controller

I

ice91785

Senior member
Hey guys,

I have been dabbling with Windows Home Server and an older rig I have laying around and decided I am very satisfied with how it works -- I am going to throw together a storage server with it (Athlon-XP Barton, 1GB RAM, FX5500 just collecting dust in the closet).

Anyway, I have only PCI slots available and would like to throw together a RAID 1 array with 2 Seagate drives I have purchased (2 x 1TB).

I would like any of your input on a decent RAID controller to purchase -- pref. something that is < $150. I was thinking a StarTech PCISATA4RI which is ~$50 but I am concerned that its horrible quality because of the price.....thoughts?

Anyway, throw all your suggestions out there and if you wanna provide a little backround on how you would built the array that is welcome too! THANKS!
 
RAID 1 can be used on any controller with no adverse affects on performance per-say. Since you only need two ports, the highest cost you might be spending is around the 50~75 dollar mark anyway. There is no need for hardware XOR and cache with RAID 1 from what I found out so anything would be fine.
 
For the price I would recommend going with Promise, I used to use them with good results 6-7 years ago but not much recently. Just about any controller will work for RAID 1 and 0 sets. Is you want reputable names I would go with Areca, LSI Logic, 3ware. Those three have been flawless for me for many years but you will pay a premium.

StarTech makes crappy products imho. I've had wireless APs, ethernet switches, and even a server rack from them and nothing has been of high quality.
 
any other thoughts? PCI; RAID 0,1, maybe 5; doesn't have to be the BEST performing card there is...... pref < $130
 
Dually noted -- I was thinking out the TX4300 also (but its a titch more spendy).

The first review scares me. It says that you should NOT use for a NAS box (which I am) because it requires a CTRL+F for EVERY restart.....I dont want to have to walk back n forth with my KB
 
Originally posted by: ice91785
I have been dabbling with Windows Home Server and an older rig I have laying around and decided I am very satisfied with how it works -- I am going to throw together a storage server with it.
Click to expand...

WHS's native duplication feature is a replacement for RAID 1. RAID is generally not recommended with WHS. I suggest try to run them natively. If you need to, you can add a dumb SATA controller.

 
Why would you want RAID?

Can you not tolerate the probability of your server going down for a short while until you get a replacement in case there is a drive failure?

You will need a backup solution either way.
 
RAID 1 is not hardware intensive. If you have a software RAID 1 option, there's no reason not to use software RAID for RAID 1

What I do (Linux not WHS) is I initially created identical copies of my drives (through a linux app very similar to ghost, basically copies the drives in a bit-perfect manner) then have a simple rsync line and run a cron job while sleeping every morning to do incremental backups to the other drive. Then every month or so I do the same thing to an external drive and take it to work and lock it in a cabinet in my cube in case my house catches fire or whatever. This way I have bootable identical copies of my data without having to worry about any RAID hardware or drivers or anything like that. It's just a normal drive and if my house burned down, I could essentially take teh drive out of the external enclosure, plug it into a different motherboard and be up and running again with little hassle.

I would assume any server OS would have something like rsync (incremental backups) and the ability to schedule it to run on a daily basis.
 
I believe that Windows home server will not support any type of RAID cards. It has its own method of doing replication and back up & being hot swappable. Adding other hardware will cause conflicts.
I used to do support for a major RAID reseller that provided support for other company's RAID hardware. No one would provide drivers for MS Home server because MA said they didn't support that hardware.

JPz
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top