pci-e Raid card for a raid 1?

K

Kirika

Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
710
Whats a decent pci-e raid card that isn't that expensive for a raid 1 for two data drives? Is Highpoint still the way to go here?

Or should I not bother with a second card and put two data drives on my areca ARC-1214-4i with the two raid 0 SSDs or run the raid 1 off the motherboard.

I was told not to put two arrays on one card or use the motherboard raid so my old build had an Areca for the raid 5 for video capture/virtual machine array and a high point rocket raid for raid 1 for 2 western digital blacks for data.
 
Is Highpoint still the way to go here?
Click to expand...

I would say Highpoint was never the way to go but that is my opinion..

Look LSI 2XXX based SAS cards off eBay.
 
I would personally go with software RAID 1, assuming I had enough MB ports already. An actual RAID controller (as in not a fakeraid controller) for RAID 1 is a waste of money to me.
 
fantabulous is right on. Windows software RAID 1 is fine.

You really only need hardware raid controllers if you are doing parity or want to use SAS drives.
 
Thank you.

@Drescherjm
I went with Highpoint because it was inexpensive. Highpoint served me well with 2 Western digital blacks raid 1 for 8 years in my old machine. Will take a look at the LSI 2XXX cards. Have to get one with 4tb support though.

@Fantabulous
Software raid not possible because I want to run dual boot with a non windows OS. I guess I could use the motherboard raid.
 
My other question do you really need raid1 or a backup? With raid1 you still need a backup since both copies can be lost for a variety of reasons.
 
Kirika said:
@Fantabulous
Software raid not possible because I want to run dual boot with a non windows OS. I guess I could use the motherboard raid.
Click to expand...

Understandable reason to need something beyond Windows software RAID. Linux should be able to handle most motherboard fakeraid setups, but Windows software RAID may be tricky (but doable IIRC). Not sure what else you're going to dual boot with, though. If it's going to be something like BSD or OS X, you're probably best off with a used LSI card like drescherjm suggested (IBM M-1015, Dell H200, etc). They're just total overkill for a two drive setup.

I'd probably just try MB raid or creating another array off your existing Areca card first. Running two arrays off the Areca probably won't be a big issue if you're not writing to both arrays a lot. I've seen low end Adaptec controllers struggle to keep up with two busy arrays, YMMV.

It's been a while since I've looked at Highpoint controllers, so big grain of salt, etc. I recall the cheaper controllers not having a mainline Linux kernel driver or having its metadata understood by the fakeraid/mdadm systems.
 
who ever told you not to put 2 raid arrays on 1 card was, well clueless, especially if you have a decent card

Raid 1 takes no work, use your motherboard raid for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top