Raid 5 Card...

[st34lth]

All, I have 4 200GB drives which I am putting in a RAID5 configuration. Currently, they are in a software RAID5 configuration thanks to the Silico Image controller on my K8N-SLI board. I am not too fond of software raid so I want to get a card that can take it.

Now, I did purchase a HighPoint RocketRAID 1820A which is an 8-channel card. I did this in haste and saw it marked as PCI-X and stupid me assumed this was PCI-eXpress. So, needless to say, it didnt work

Can someone please reccomend an 8 port card that is not PCI-X with HARDWARE RAID5.

Thank you

AdamR

 

[dartworth]

Do you need a regular PCI RAID card?

SATA or ATA?

 

[st34lth]

Looking for a regular PCI or PCI Express. It has to be SATA

 

[dartworth]

I have a the 1820A card. It works in a regular PCI slot.

 

[st34lth]

Are you serious dude? Do you have a huge section of fingers hang off though? Also, how do you like the card and why did you get it?

THANKS A BUNCH!

 

[dartworth]

I have 6 250GB drives I am putting in a RAID 5 configuration. I just started build the array and it seems it is going to take a few hours to build it.

I just purchased a MSI mobo and it has 8 SATA ports with 2 controllers. I may just use the onboard controllers and sell this card.

 

[dartworth]

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/rr1820a.htm

The 64-bit PCI-X architecture supports transfer rates above 1 gigabyte per second, and operates up to 133MHz. In addition, it is backwards compatible with the existing standard PCI bus. The bandwidth provided by PCI-X makes the RocketRAID 1820A an ideal solution for industry standard servers running enterprise applications.

 

[Dewey]

I am running the 3ware 4 port SATA card in my system. Works fine, but costs a bit.
3Ware makes 8 port cards too.

 

[st34lth]

I saw the 3ware 8-port card and it was like $600 compared to the highpoint 8-port card.... Ill take the performance loss for 1/3 of the price.

Now, as soon as my software RAID5 array is done "Rebuilding redundancy" Ill go ahead and install the highpoint card I have sitting here.

Wish me luck!

AdamR

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: st34lth
I saw the 3ware 8-port card and it was like $600 compared to the highpoint 8-port card.... Ill take the performance loss for 1/3 of the price.

Now, as soon as my software RAID5 array is done "Rebuilding redundancy" Ill go ahead and install the highpoint card I have sitting here.

Wish me luck!

AdamR

Good luck dude...

 

[ribbon13]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=16-116-020&depa=1

You will see no difference in speed between the 7500, 8500, and 9500 series when you run them on a regualr PCI bus.

 

[WalkingDead]

All the Highpoint and all but 1 or 2 models of the Promise raid cards are Software raid cards. Promise makes a 4 ports SATA hardware raid card for only $160. LSI makes one with 4 ports for $180 and 6 ports for $220. Everything else are over $300+.

 

[st34lth]

As I read it, the HighPoint card I have (1820A) is a hardware card

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/

AdamR

 

[ribbon13]

With 8 Serial ATA channels, the RocketRAID 1820A provides multi-level RAID support including RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD. With an optimized XOR technique and advanced Intelligent Cache Algorithm powered by the HPT 601, the RocketRAID 1820A provides a significant performance enhancement for RAID implementations. The RocketRAID1820A solution is aimed at enterprise storage, NAS storage, web servers, video streaming, back up and security systems.

I assume the HPT 601 is a hardware XOR unit?

 

[st34lth]

It would sure seem so ...

 

[st34lth]

A good review which reveals the card for sure is hardware RAID 5-

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=716&dPage=2

 

[st34lth]

OK, I have installed the card and its recognized by windows but I am not getting the BIOS screen on bootup. Is there anything else I have to configure?

AdamR

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: st34lth
OK, I have installed the card and its recognized by windows but I am not getting the BIOS screen on bootup. Is there anything else I have to configure?

AdamR

When I booted up after I installed the card it the bios screen showed up for me. That is where you configure the array.

 

[Markfw]

And when you configure the array, you will loose everything on the drives at that time. so backup first !

 

[montag451]

Also,
Once you are sure everything is configured correctly, and you are sure everything is working, then take a drive out of the system and see what happens...
Check that it will rebuild the array successfully - no point in only finding out there is a problem in 6 months!
Good luck