RAID Question

[samuraijake]

I need to put together a machine with some redundant drives. I am looking at the EpoX 8KDA3I (Here). It supports RAID 0/1. My problem is, I'd like to have two separate RAID arrays operating over four drives. RAID 1 on two smaller disks for the operating system and applications, then another RAID 1 on two larger disks for network-accessible storage. Can I run two separate RAID arrays over four drives on this boards two SATA headers? Or should I look into implementing something else?

 

[LED]

SATA only lets you hook up 1 Drive per cables so your only choice in this setup would be to have seperate Partions on the HD for the config

 

[airfoil]

To run two RAID1 arrays, you'll need an additional PCI RAID card.

As an example, here is the cheapest card available at newegg that meet your requirements.

Link Depot PCI-SATA150 PCI SATA Controller Card

This way, you'll have one RAID array running off the onboard controller, and another via the PCI card.

As a better option, you could look for another motherboard; one that offers onboard dual RAID controllers, such as the ASUS K8V Deluxe/Wireless Edition.

 

[samuraijake]

Thanks for that enlightening response, airfoil. Looks like I'll be considering the K8V Deluxe.

 

[airfoil]

I used that ASUS board only as an example (it was the first dual RAID board I found) - I cant say its the best board/chipset out there for a S754 A64. You should probably look for a board that offers the NF4 chipset over the KT800, such as this one.

I would ask which S754 board with dual RAID is best on the Motherboards/General Hardware categories as well. Were you planning on using only SATA drives for the 2 RAID arrays? I believe you'd find more board options if you were willing to do one PATA and one SATA array.