What do you guys think of this RAID controller for a RAID 5?

[TC10284]

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/rr2210.htm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16816115033

Going to upgrade my existing 4x250GB PATA RAID5
Gonna be using it with these HDs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148108

The controller will be used with a Gigabyte GA-VTXD dual P3 1GHz (unfortunately without a PCI-X slot)

As for the controller, I'm not looking to spend much more on a controller. Preferably < $150-200.

Not the best, but not the worst I think. Suits me.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Is this a cruncher or file server? (or both ). I used a RocketRAID 1820 for quite a while until I went with a Broadcom BC4852. I was reasonably impressed with the RAID controller for it's time, and the software feature set was impressive. The performance was a bit lacking though. I would ensure, via e-mail to the manufacturer, that it will work in a standard PCI slot. Get confirmation of this before you order, because some cards can be finicky about this, and a RAID controller isn't something to be finicky about.

 

[TC10284]

It's just a file server. I do run BOINC (as you can see) but not on that machine.

I was wondering about backward compatibility with that card also. The PATA RAID card I have now is also a 64bit card and I haven't had any issues out of it. It's a different brand I believe.
Their webpage lists it as backward compatiblewith regular PCI slots, but you're right, I should get confirmation. I just couldn't wait though. =P

I'm wondering how I'm going to copy all this data off without risk of dataloss. I could put the new drives/card in another system and copy from the old drives to the new ones, then pull the drives out of both systems, and put the new drives in the file server with data (hopefully) intact. If something went wrong, (again hopefully) I could put the old drives/card back in and get my data back.

Or, try to fit the data on some 160GB HD's I have in other systems. That would be a little more hectic though.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: TC10284
It's just a file server. I do run BOINC (as you can see) but not on that machine.

I was wondering about backward compatibility with that card also. The PATA RAID card I have now is also a 64bit card and I haven't had any issues out of it. It's a different brand I believe.
Their webpage lists it as backward compatiblewith regular PCI slots, but you're right, I should get confirmation. I just couldn't wait though. =P

I'm wondering how I'm going to copy all this data off without risk of dataloss. I could put the new drives/card in another system and copy from the old drives to the new ones, then pull the drives out of both systems, and put the new drives in the file server with data (hopefully) intact. If something went wrong, (again hopefully) I could put the old drives/card back in and get my data back.

Or, try to fit the data on some 160GB HD's I have in other systems. That would be a little more hectic though.

Ugh, I remember having to mess with (different) controller migration. What a fvcking PITA. I don't think it would go well from one controller to another of a different kind. I have several 160 & 250gb disks around that contain all of my data that was on my RAID 5 array. All of the hard drives are in cases, and offline, so that nothing can (hopefully) happen to the data. It's the first time in a long time my data wasn't in some for of redundancy...

Hectic or not, I'd go with the later method. Surest way to get everything over there, even though it might take a lot longer.

 

[TC10284]

Thanks for the suggestions man! Can't wait to get the stuff from Newegg, probably Thursday of this week.