I know that RAID != backup, but for home use it just seems too expensive to have that much backup capacity for data that changes weekly, which leaves me only RAID 5 to consider in terms of expense and capacity and redundancy. I need at least 2T of accessible storage, preferably 2.5 or 3T. I don't want to dedicate another box as NAS RAID server if I can help it.
After a little research, and having never done any kind of RAID setup before (at least for home use), my options appear to be:
My mobo is an Abit IP35 Pro. It has onboard RAID 5 support (not sure how much of it hardware) through Intel ICH9R, but docu says it supports max of 4 drives and 2.1T. Case space is rather limited and a change in power supply would be required for the extra SATA connections. eSATA is handled through a JMicron controller that does not support RAID 5 but will hopefully at least accept multiplied external drives.
Please share your thoughts on what I should do. I'm leaning toward getting an enclosure, but in that case should I also get a cheap eSATA RAID card? They all have limitations on how many drives are supported and/or compatibility with particular port multipliers though, whereas the OS may not, as long as the drives are recognized. For example, RocketRAID 2302 says it supports up to 4 drives, but does that refer to its ability to hook up at most 4 drives or does the limit apply to total number of drives coming through the port multiplier too?
After a little research, and having never done any kind of RAID setup before (at least for home use), my options appear to be:
- Pure hardware RAID
- Hybrid RAID
My mobo is an Abit IP35 Pro. It has onboard RAID 5 support (not sure how much of it hardware) through Intel ICH9R, but docu says it supports max of 4 drives and 2.1T. Case space is rather limited and a change in power supply would be required for the extra SATA connections. eSATA is handled through a JMicron controller that does not support RAID 5 but will hopefully at least accept multiplied external drives.
Please share your thoughts on what I should do. I'm leaning toward getting an enclosure, but in that case should I also get a cheap eSATA RAID card? They all have limitations on how many drives are supported and/or compatibility with particular port multipliers though, whereas the OS may not, as long as the drives are recognized. For example, RocketRAID 2302 says it supports up to 4 drives, but does that refer to its ability to hook up at most 4 drives or does the limit apply to total number of drives coming through the port multiplier too?
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