Onboard RAID 5 -- Capable of Online expansion?

[tmchow]

I'm thinking of using my motherboard's onboard RAID 5 controller to setup a RAID for my HTPC. Accoridng to review's I've read, the onboard solution didn't suffer from the performance degradation that was expected, so this is a really cheap way for me to get RAID 5.

What I'm wondering is whether the Sil3114 onboard raid controller supports Online capacity expansion? I woudl liek to plug in 2 HDs for now, then build up to a total of 4 instead of having to buy all 4 HDs at the same time.

 

[Vegito]

for raid 5, u need a minimum of 3.. usually ide raid don't support that.. my 3ware 8500 doesn't.. but all my lsi scsi does.. i never seen it on the sil but someone here might know more..

 

[imported_Kensai]

Didn't know that RAID 5 worked with only two drives. 😛

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Why exactly do you want to do a RAID 5 setup? Just wondering.
Tas.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: tmchow
What I'm wondering is whether the Sil3114 onboard raid controller supports Online capacity expansion? I woudl liek to plug in 2 HDs for now, then build up to a total of 4 instead of having to buy all 4 HDs at the same time.

You never know, but I seriously doubt it. To put things in perspective, my (at one time) $300 SuperTrak SX6000 doesn't support non-destructive capacity enlargement, and it's a true hardware controller.

 

[sharkeeper]

I'm sure it does not.

Ours do but they're in a league of their own.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Which ones do? 😱

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Mostly the new ones. The one I'm getting to replace my SX6000 supports it--Broadcom 4852D. Check out those if you wish. Now I'm just wishing someone would buy my controller and my four hard drives. 🙂
Tas.

 

[tmchow]

dang it, so it looks like I"m stuck buying 4 drives right off the bat then for RAID 5.

FYI - to the person that asked what I want to do with RAID 5, I"m using it in my HTPC to store my backed up DVDs, all my music and my photos. I don't want to risk losing that stuff, and at the rate I'm ripping my CD and DVD collection, I"m running out of space QUICK.