Raid Card and Reinstall?

[tb582]

Hi guys, I need a reliable raid card. I have 2 WD 74GB Raptors in RAID 0 and now I want to add some more storage. I'm probably going to end up getting a 500GB wd Sata drive, what do you guys think about this one: WD Caviar® SE16 7200 RPM


So my Iwill dh800 only had 2 built in Sata ports, which are currently being used by my raptors. So I need a sata card to expand my ports. I was thinking about this one ( [http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16816115023] but after reading the reviews I don't know. What do you guys think? I'm not going to be using the card for a RAID just the Sata ports, I will continue to use my onboard sata ports for my raptors. So format my raptors now and then reinstall still using my onboard sata ports, when the new drive and raid card comes I can just install them...no need to reinstall my OS, right?

 

[alaricljs]

Shoot, if all you want is ports, I've got 4 and 8 port PCI-X SATA cards for sale in my thread for MUCH less. $40 for 4 ports, $105 for 8. And I recently got a pile of SATA cables, so I'll include 4 with the 4 port.

I use these same cards in my file server.

And yes you can add the controller and drives to the system after having installed Windows.

 

[tb582]

Hmmm yeah I didn't even think of that.... I currently have a dh-800 Iwill mobo, I belive that it has pci-x..., if I wanted to purchase one where do I do it? ebay? How do those cards compair to other just sata cards?

 

[alaricljs]

Yes according to the specs page you have PCI-X slots. If you want to purchase one from me, PM me and we make arrangements. These cards compare very favorably to other plain SATA cards. The 8 port is a Marvell chipset, Supermicro had Adaptec write drivers for it. The 4 port is a Silicon Image chipset. These 2 cards are the favorites for building Linux file servers.