What is the Best RAID controller Solution?

[Stormblade]

Hey all,

Ok. I went a purchased the Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI RAID controller (It's still in the box). I admit I didn't do as much research on it as I have other parts. I always thought Adaptec was the top of the line but now I'm hearing other things.
http://www.attotech.com/skits.html
This controller I was told outperformed the Adaptec controller using X15s which are the drives I'll be purchasing. BUT, it only does RAID-0and RAID-1. I was a bit nervous about doing that but the performance advantage is impressive.
So I ask you guys, what should I do? Should I stick with the Adaptec Controller and run RAID-5 just for that warm fuzzy safe feeling? Or should I go with that ATTO dual channel but run RAID-0 or RAID-1 and just make frequent backups if I start to get really nervous.
The thing is, if I go RAID-5 I have to get 3 of them suckers. Going with the others I only need two and will save about $450. I can use that money and buy me a really nice tape drive for backup purposes or something.
So I have some choices to make. HALP!


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[Guest]

I would say that would depend on how importan the data is and how often you would have to back it up if it wasnt in raid 1 (I dont remeber of the top of my head what raid 5 is )

 

[Guest]

first learn some RAID basics as there is a little bit to learn to adminster a RAID setup with optimal performance on RAID 5.. not always the same depending on what the machine will be used for.

""Ok. I went a purchased the Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI RAID controller""

model? There is more than one 160 Adaptec RAID controller.

""This controller I was told outperformed the Adaptec controller using X15s which are the drives I'll be purchasing. BUT, it only does RAID-0and RAID-1. I was a bit nervous about doing that but the performance advantage is impressive.""

This is a normal SCSI controller with a software RAID package. It only offers RAID-1 for a mac. I seriously doubt it can offer better perforance than a hardware RAID controller.. (show me some proof). Now it may have been compared to a regular controller to show you the improvement gained when even using a software RAID setup, which is entirely possible. But unless you are on a Mac you get RAID 0 only ..so no redundancy.

""The thing is, if I go RAID-5 I have to get 3 of them suckers. Going with the others I only need two and will save about $450. ""

RAID 1 may only require two discs, but you only get half the space and a performance hit compared to RAID 0. RAID 0/1 is better in performance and redundancy(the best in my opinion) because it's mirrored stripe (..but you still get half the space again with a minimal of 4 discs required!! out of the equation for most people). RAID 5 and 0/5 especially is cross between performance and cheaper redundancy. It does require 3 drives but you get most of the space but not all of it because of the parry blocks. It's slower than 0 or 0/1 because of writes to the parry blocks but you get redudancy at a cheaper price in relation to storage size than 0/1. One thing for sure if you have an Adaptec 160 RAID controller it can do all those RAID setups.

I think if you are seriuosly considering RAID 0 then all bets are off and I wouldn't worry about the other forms of RAID, because everything but 0 is designed for redundancy and those who want a system that in theory will not get shut down or lose data due to a hard drive problem. I'd still have to have some proof before I recommended this company's software implimentation of RAID over the Adaptec's hardware RAID. Albeit it's probably cheaper.

""I always thought Adaptec was the top of the line but now I'm hearing other things.""

>>>Apply some old adage here about not believing everything you hear<<<





***Hey I run Intel... but let's get real***

 

[Stormblade]

The model I purchased was the 2100S Adaptec Ultra160. The card I'm considering now is the ATTO ExpressPCI. Here is a review on it that compared both:

http://www.athlonmb.com/article-display.cfm?ArticleID=51

However, I'm also looking at this one:

http://www.dpt.com/products/datasheets/century.html

I've not seen any reviews on it as of yet but right now I'm leaning towards the ATTO. The performance looks good. And since I've changed my mind about going RAID-5 it looks to be a great buy for RAID-0 support. I'll just make frequent backups and setup a nice offsite backup system for my own peace of mind.


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[Guest]

Adaptec makes good solic SCSI cards, but most hard drive enthusiasts like Tekram better.

I believe Promise is the way to go for EIDE.

Check out Hypermicro:
http://www.hypermicro.com/

They are one of the better SCSI component suppliers.

 

[Stormblade]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah I went through many decisions. At first I was going to do IDE RAID and was looking at the Promise. Then got scared and didn't like the RAID-0 only so I looked at the SuperTrack which did RAID-5. But then I saw the price and started thinking well heck if I'm gonna pay that much I may as well get a good SCSI RAID controller and just bit the bullet and get the X15s.

Then now I've come almost full circle and will be doing RAID-0 again but this time SCSI. I'm returning the Adaptec and am evaluating two controllers around the same price and have no idea which is better. I'll be posting that question in a few.


The worth of your opinion is in direct proportion to the number of people who have asked for it

 

[Guest]

Because EIDE has lower access times than SCSI and it doesn't multitask well, EIDE RAID isn't well recommended.