Unified Serial RAID Controllers for PCIe

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Manufacturer Adaptec Atto ICP Raidcore
Model RAID 3805 ExpressSAS R348 ICP 5085BL RC5252-8
Internal connectors 2x SFF 8087 2x SFF 8087 2x SFF 8087 2x SFF 8087
External connectors Na 1x SFF 8088 na na
Total SAS Ports 8 8 8 8
Cache 128 MB DDR2 ECC 256 MB DDR2 ECC 256 MB DDR2 ECC None
Interface PCI Express x4 PCI Express x8 PCI Express x4 PCI Express x4
XOR Engine Intel 80333500 MHz IOP 348800 MHz Intel 80333800 MHz software
RAID Level Migration Yes yes Yes
Online Capacity Expansion Yes yes yes Yes
Multiple RAID Arrays Yes yes yes Yes
Staggered Spin-up Yes yes Yes
Flexible Hot Spare Support Yes yes yes Yes
Automatic Failover Yes yes
Battery Backup Unit Optional optional optional not needed, no cache
FAN no no no No
Supported OS Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Novell NetWare 6.5SCO OpenServerUnixWareSun Solaris 10 x86FreeBSD Windows Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000Mac OS X (10.4.x)Linux (Fedora, Red Hat and SuSE) Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Novell NetWare 6.5SCO OpenServerUnixWareSun Solaris 10 x86FreeBSD Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5SuSE 9.3, 10.1, 10.2SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Fedora Core 5,6
Other Copyback DVRAID Copyback Controller Spanning
Warranty 3 years 2 years 3 years 3 years
MSRP $575.00 $1,095.00 $650.00
Patrick Schmid
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Rik
    ...well,
    - Unless RaidCore is trying to peddle their VST Pro software,...aka as Fulcrum proprietary based ? which BTW you said no to, I don't see any advantages here.
    Why?, ZFS is free !
    And, where are the Drives for Solaris, or the xBSD's , or even MacOSX !!!?
    -and still no, becuase their newer 54xx series doesn't support the other 'ix OS's.
    Nope, unfortunately, not much to see here.
    so, based on the above, Adaptec 5805,... or Areca,... blows this.

    -Rikster
    Reply
  • aapocketz
    For SAS, the two connector segments were merged, which makes it possible to attach a SAS drive to a SATA controller using the continuous connector, but you cannot hook up a SAS hard drive to a SATA controller using the SATA connector (SFF 8482).


    I think this paragraph has an error. I believe it should read

    For SAS, the two connector segments were merged, which makes it possible to attach a SATA drive to a SAS controller using the continuous connector, but you cannot hook up a SAS hard drive to a SATA controller using the SATA connector (SFF 8482).

    In fact I believe the statement should have less emphasis on the connector as its the actual controller that appears to limit the connectivity, the connector is just keyed to allow you to plug SATA drives into SAS but not the other way around.

    from wikipedia: "SATA 3.0 Gbit/s drives may be connected to SAS backplanes, but SAS drives may not be connected to SATA backplanes."

    I believe the fact that signaling voltages are nearly double on a SAS drive is significant to mention.

    Let me know if I am wrong, I just started playing around with a bunch of SAS drives so I am figuring this out as I go.
    Reply
  • Factors like spindle speed, density, latency etc. effects drive performance as much or more than bandwidth. A 300GB 2.5 15K SAS drive will smoke a 1TB 7200 SATA drive simply because it has about twice the IOPS. The bandwidth is meaningless if you can't get the data on and off the disk at the speed of the bus. Furthermore, except for the WD Velociraptor 10K+ spindle speed drives are non-existent in SATA but are prevalent in SAS. So from an interface standpoint they are very close but SAS drives are really intended for entirely different markets and applications and budgets I might add.
    Reply
  • Bicom Systems
    Great article - thanks for the comparison! We also did a piece on SAS and SATA, if you're interested : http://blog.bicomsystems.com/sas-vs-sata
    Reply