The market offers multiple, powerful solutions for Unified Serial storage requirements. The following table lists all available options, including the new Adaptec Series 5. Please also have a look at the following articles for more details:
Windows XP, Server 2003/2008, Vista, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), SCO OpenServer, UnixWare, Sun Solaris 10 x86, FreeBSD
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, Vista, RedHat EL 5, OpenSuSE 10.2, SuSE Enterprise (SLES) 10, Fedora Core 6
Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Linux, FreeBSD, Novell Netware 6.5, Solaris 10x86/x86_64, SCO Unixware 7.x.x, Mac OS x(not bootable)
Other Features
Copyback Hotspare
Copyback Hotspare
Row 15 - Cell 3
Row 15 - Cell 4
Warranty
3 years
3 years
3 years
3 years
Price
$650
$575
$700
$1,000
Manufacturer
Atto
ICP
LSI
Raidcore/Ciprico
Model
ExpressSAS R348
ICP 5085BL
MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP
RC5252-8
Internal connectors
2x SFF 8087
2x SFF 8087
2xSFF-8087
2x SFF 8087
External connectors
1x SFF 8088
n/a
2xSFF-8088
n/a
Cache
256 MB DDR2 ECC
256 MB DDR2 ECC
256 MB DDR2-667 ECC
-
Profile
Low Profile
Low Profile
Low Profile
Low Profile
Interface
PCI Express x8
PCI Express x4
PCI Express x8
PCI Express x4
XOR Engine
IOP 348800 MHz
Intel 80333800 MHz
PowerPC500 MHz LSISAS1078
software
RAID Level Migration
yes
yes
yes
yes
Online Capacity Expansion
yes
yes
yes
yes
Multiple RAID Arrays
yes
yes
yes
yes
Hot Spare Support
yes
yes
yes
yes
Battery Backup Unit
optional
optional
optional
not required
RAID 5 init
23min
57min
17min
2h 42min
RAID 6 init
n/a
57min
17min
n/a
FAN
no
no
no
no
Supported OS
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)Solaris 10SCO Unix
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 Features
DVRAID
Copyback Hotspare
Row 35 - Cell 3
Controller Spanning
Warranty
2 years
3 years
3 years
3 years
Price
$1,095
$650
$850
n/a
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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.