When purchasing a RAID controller, you need to differentiate between two types. Simple consumer models can be found everywhere, and they're often also integrated on motherboards. They offer two channels and support RAID modes 0, 1 and 10 (striping and mirroring), but most of the time they can also be used as simple ATA controllers.

More sophisticated models have their own RISC processors (e.g., i960) and can additionally be outfitted with extra cache. Thanks to the processor, you can also run more lavish RAID modes like Level 3 or 5 - assuming that you have enough hard drives.

Adaptec

Adaptec has the reputation of manufacturing high-quality SCSI hardware. But it has been offering some products in the IDE sector for quite some time, too.

• Two channel UltraATA/100: ATA RAID 1200A

• RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

• Four channel UltraATA/100: ATA RAID 2400A

• RAID 0, 1, 3, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

HighPoint

You'll find HighPoint controllers less often in computer stores than on numerous motherboards:

• Two channel UltraATA/133: RocketRAID133

• RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

• Four channel UltraATA/133: RocketRAID404

• RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

LSI Logic

• Two channel UltraATA/100: Mega RAID IDE 100 (formerly AMI)

• RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

• Four channel UltraATA/100: Mega RAID i4

• RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

Hardly for home use: the SuperTrak SX6000 from Promise masters RAID 5 and supports up to 128 MB cache.

Promise

Promise places equal focus on integration and retail sales:

• Two channel UltraATA/133: FastTrak TX2000

• RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

• Five channel UltraATA/133: FastTrak TX2000

• RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification