who makes the best Raid Controller

[Recursion]

Im looking for a Good Raid Controller for my system. Im thinking of a raid 5,

[thegreek]

areca

[greenmaji]

areca

What he said.. by a long shot really :)

[Recursion]

thanks guys.

they do look amazing but very expensive which is somthing I should have mentioned.

I want to take my current system and make it a server, not sure of size but very very big./

[Snugglebear]

You're going to need more objective requirements/specifications than that. Areca are expensive and are also extremely fast. Equipment from 3Ware is also very fast, but just a little less expensive. For a hardware RAID5/6 controller you will be paying through the nose, so it helps to know what the budget is, along with the network performance requirements, disk loading, etc. If you don't need the performance you think you do, an older LSI controller, which are relatively cheap, would fit the bill nicely. If you're not concerned about processor cycles have enough controller ports onboard, and use UNIX, consider software RAID, as it is fairly quick and free. If write performance isn't a big deal and you have an Intel system with an ICH7R, use the onboard controller for your RAID5 array. There are quite a few possibilities any way you look at it.

[greenmaji]

Sungglebear hit the nail on the head there..
If your looking for file server performance your bottleneck will most likely be how fast you can move data over your network.
Linux with software raid would be cheapest (or onboard controller raid) how fast your array needs to be to match up with your network throughput is a consideration you need to take :)

[Recursion]

You're going to need more objective requirements/specifications than that. Areca are expensive and are also extremely fast. Equipment from 3Ware is also very fast, but just a little less expensive. For a hardware RAID5/6 controller you will be paying through the nose, so it helps to know what the budget is, along with the network performance requirements, disk loading, etc. If you don't need the performance you think you do, an older LSI controller, which are relatively cheap, would fit the bill nicely. If you're not concerned about processor cycles have enough controller ports onboard, and use UNIX, consider software RAID, as it is fairly quick and free. If write performance isn't a big deal and you have an Intel system with an ICH7R, use the onboard controller for your RAID5 array. There are quite a few possibilities any way you look at it.

Ok so my system is as follows.

P4 2.4C GHz (@ 3.4 GHZ) Stock Intel Heatsink AS 5
Asus P4C800 E- DELUXE
OCZ PC-4200 1GB 2.5-4-4-8
Antec TruePower 550watt
ATI Radeon 9600XT
----WD RAPTOR 2X36.6 (RAID-0)
then like 4 more HDD
Mistubishi 930SB 19"


I want to take this system and make a storage server out of it. I download from newgroups alot, so I will be almost constantly downloading at around 5-6MBs when I am at school and around 3-4 MBs when im home. Im at school for 8/12 months.

I am also wanting to store alot of this stuff, and par it then possibly re-upload.

so I will constantly be uploading, downloading and extracting and paring the media. I will probrolly always be Folding as well.

Id also like if possible to have remote desktop setup, maybe with VNC, so that I canyuse the server whenever I want from anywhere.

In terms of storage Im not sure of how much i want yet,.

[Snugglebear]

Unless there's a suite of local machines accessing that data simulatenously, you don't need a very fast RAID card or disk pack. Another aspect of this I forgot to ask about earlier is how much do you value this data? Is it worth backing up? Is it worth the R in RAID meaning redundant? Do you forsee hardware failure, system (software) failure, or viri as being the dominant threat?

Secondly, how much space do you need?

Third, what operating systems are you familiar with and have access to? (Linux/BSD, XP Pro, 2003 server, 2000 server, etc.)

From what I've read so far, the easiest/cheapest options are:
1) Single large drive with external drive of same size for backup
2) Mirrored large drives (mirroring is not a backup)

[Recursion]

Unless there's a suite of local machines accessing that data simulatenously, you don't need a very fast RAID card or disk pack. Another aspect of this I forgot to ask about earlier is how much do you value this data? Is it worth backing up? Is it worth the R in RAID meaning redundant? Do you forsee hardware failure, system (software) failure, or viri as being the dominant threat?

Secondly, how much space do you need?

Third, what operating systems are you familiar with and have access to? (Linux/BSD, XP Pro, 2003 server, 2000 server, etc.)

From what I've read so far, the easiest/cheapest options are:
1) Single large drive with external drive of same size for backup
2) Mirrored large drives (mirroring is not a backup)


It will just be the 1 machine and me but there will be a ftp server on it. I am familiar with windows and some unix. Im still learning. I currectly use freebsd. Im not sure on the space yet, the data is replaceable, but I dont want to have to replace it. I dont really want easy I want hard, I want a raid setup if possible.