RAID card/controller help

[Phil]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Hi

First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the above
products.

And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives are
connected to the controller?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi

> First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
> card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the above
> products.

Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software, but
nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.

> And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
> for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives are
> connected to the controller?

As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get
is a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your
needs.

All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card". Many
cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
hardware support for the RAID.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

 

[Phil]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

So which cards use ahrdware RAID?
"Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:2ri9kpF1b7f28U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi
>
>> First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
>> card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the
>> above
>> products.
>
> Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software, but
> nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.
>
>> And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
>> for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives
>> are
>> connected to the controller?
>
> As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get
> is a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your
> needs.
>
> All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
> for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
> usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
> devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card". Many
> cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
> hardware support for the RAID.
>
> Arno
> --
> For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
> GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
> "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:2ri9kpF1b7f28U1@uni-berlin.de
> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hi
>
> > First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
> > card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the above
> > products.
>
> Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software, but
> nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.
>
> > And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
> > for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives are
> > connected to the controller?
>
> As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get is
> a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your needs.
>
> All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
> for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
> usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
> devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card".
> Many cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
> hardware support for the RAID.

Wotaloadofbollocks.

>
> Arno

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> So which cards use ahrdware RAID?

What mainboard bus? PCI/PCI-X/PIC-64/PCI-E?

What disk bus? IDE/SATA/SCSI?

As far as I know, none of the Promise SATA/IDE RAID
cards are truely hardware RAID. For example an Adaptec
ATA RAID 2400A is. I think a HighPoint RocketRAID 454
is not.

It is actually non-tivial to tell.

Arno


> "Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:2ri9kpF1b7f28U1@uni-berlin.de...
>> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
>>> Hi
>>
>>> First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
>>> card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the
>>> above
>>> products.
>>
>> Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software, but
>> nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.
>>
>>> And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
>>> for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives
>>> are
>>> connected to the controller?
>>
>> As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get
>> is a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your
>> needs.
>>
>> All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
>> for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
>> usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
>> devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card". Many
>> cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
>> hardware support for the RAID.
>>
>> Arno
>> --
>> For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
>> GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
>> "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus
>>
>>



--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

For ATA hardware RAID see www.3ware.com

"Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:2rlne4F1b6u6lU4@uni-berlin.de...
> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> > So which cards use ahrdware RAID?
>
> What mainboard bus? PCI/PCI-X/PIC-64/PCI-E?
>
> What disk bus? IDE/SATA/SCSI?
>
> As far as I know, none of the Promise SATA/IDE RAID
> cards are truely hardware RAID. For example an Adaptec
> ATA RAID 2400A is. I think a HighPoint RocketRAID 454
> is not.
>
> It is actually non-tivial to tell.


> > "Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
> > news:2ri9kpF1b7f28U1@uni-berlin.de...
> >> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> >>> Hi
> >>
> >>> First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a
RAID
> >>> card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the
> >>> above
> >>> products.
> >>
> >> Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software,
but
> >> nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.
> >>
> >>> And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to
go
> >>> for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives
> >>> are
> >>> connected to the controller?
> >>
> >> As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get
> >> is a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your
> >> needs.
> >>
> >> All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
> >> for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
> >> usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
> >> devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card". Many
> >> cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
> >> hardware support for the RAID.
> >>
> >> Arno
> >> --
> >> For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
> >> GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25
338F
> >> "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
> --
> For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
> GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
> "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"Arno Wagner" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:2rlne4F1b6u6lU4@uni-berlin.de
> Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> > So which cards use ahrdware RAID?
>
> What mainboard bus? PCI/PCI-X/PIC-64/PCI-E?
>
> What disk bus? IDE/SATA/SCSI?
>
> As far as I know, none of the Promise SATA/IDE RAID
> cards are truely hardware RAID. For example an Adaptec
> ATA RAID 2400A is. I think a HighPoint RocketRAID 454
> is not.
>

> It is actually non-tivial to tell.

True, for someone that obviously hasn't got the faintest clue.

>
> Arno
>
>
> > "Arno Wagner" me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:2ri9kpF1b7f28U1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > Previously Phil <phil@nospamjencom.co.uk> wrote:
> > > > Hi
> > >
> > > > First of all, what is the difference between a RAID controller and a RAID
> > > > card. Promise (www.promise.com) seem to have two product ranges of the
> > > > above products.
> > >
> > > Theoretically a "RAID controller" could also mean a pice of software, but
> > > nobody uses the term that way. It is the same in practice.
> > >
> > > > And also, what is the best RAID controller/card (not just promise) to go
> > > > for, that won't slow the performace of my PC in any way, when 4 drives
> > > > are connected to the controller?
> > >
> > > As almost alwways, there is no best. The only thing you can get
> > > is a best fit for your needs, and that depends obviously on your needs.
> > >
> > > All cards will slow the performance of your PC somewhat, if only
> > > for slightly longer PCI arbirtation. Also there will be bandwidth
> > > usage for the RAID in the PCI bus, which is not available for other
> > > devices anyore, if it is a "software-RAID on a card". Many
> > > cheaper cards are of this type and only have partial/no
> > > hardware support for the RAID.
> > >
> > > Arno