RAID setup questions

[mep]

I am thinking about setting up a RAID 1 system on my machine. I have a Asus A7N-266VM motherboard which does not have on board RAID. So I need a PCI based solution. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best vendor for an IDE RAID card?? Also, what HDD manufacturer has the most reliable HDDs.

Thanks.
MEP

 

[folken]

Answering those 2 will be all over the place. It is pretty much just based on preference. For a basic Raid1 setup I wouldn't plunk out to much money for the top of the line ide raid card. Just get a little Koutech PCI to ATA RAID Controller for about $15 USD or something similar. I had one and it actually worked damned good
If you do want to spend a lot on a card the hands down best ata raid cards on the market are the 3ware Escalade ata raid cards. They start at about $250 and feature Raid 0,1,10,5,JBOD. They are true hardware raid controllers.

Picking out hard drives is even more based on personal preference. What size drives are you hoping for? I personally am a big fan of Western Digital but some of the new Maxtor drives are looking promising with their 16mb of cache.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[mep]

For the RAID card I just want something inexpensive but solid that won't cause me a bunch of headaches. I am running Win2K currently so it need to work with it also. I was just wondering which companies have the best reputations. I don't want to do this twice.

HDD wise I don't need giant amounts of space something about 80GB would easily suffice. I am just managing personal info. Family pics etc.

I might do some 3-D CAD work as well.

Thanks,
MEP

 

[jammydodger]

Most hard drive makers are reliable, but i think WD and seagate are the best for reliability. I have heard about issues with both maxtor and IBM drives in the past.

 

[folken]

I went for the koutech card because it used a silicon image chip. It really isn't a koutech card at all it is a silicon image raid card, koutech is probably just the oem that put the chip on a pci card
The silicon image sata raid cards I've used on motherboards have been so good to me I decided to go for silicon image for an ata raid card as well.

The big names in raid cards are 3ware, adaptec, highpoint, and promise. Silicon image is just a little guy now but it is growing very fast and all of their products have had very good performance.

If you want to get a card from one of the big boys in raid controllers 3ware is the absolute top of the line. Under that I would probably go for an adaptec card due to all the very reliable and fast scsi cards I've used from them. I think a Raid 0,1 ata card will run you about $50 or so from adaptec.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Lazerous]

Or perhaps you may consider just upgrading your motherboard to something that supports both SATA and Raid?

There are quite a few nice Socket A cards that support this now such as this <font color=red> GIGABYTE "GA-7N400 Pro2 Rev 2" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU</font color=red>
This one has a Silicon Image raid controller.
You can see it here.

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-199&depa=1
" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-199&depa=1
</A>
just a thought. At $95 it might be a good deal for you and it hosts a multitude of FSB configuration too.

...or this one for less$$$
<font color=red>ASUS "A7V600-X" KT600 Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU</font color=red> for just $60
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-486&depa=1" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-486&depa=1</A>

<font color=green>AMD 64 3700+
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
CORSAIR XMS (1gb) PC-3200
Gigabyte GF 6800gt 256mb
Audigy 2 ZS
2_36.7gb Raptors/Raid 0
Tt 480 watt PSU</font color=green>

 

[mep]

Thanks for the idea but that becomes a bigger fish to fry. I have a Micro ATX chassis which would have to be changed.

I looked up the Koutech card on Newegg.com and it had some negative reviews about causing data loss.
http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?DEPA=0&item=15-104-214

It also had a Promise ULTRA100 TX2 card for about $10 more with no negative reviews.
http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?DEPA=0&item=16-102-002

It the promise a good card??

Thanks,
MEP

 

[pat]

I've used Promise controller for RAID since 2001 as onboard controller without any problem.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[folken]

That Promise card should work fine.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[jammydodger]

Oh God it doesnt use the Silicon image 3112A chip does it? Had major problem with that chip. Get the promise controller.