Alternative to SATA & RAID

[KayTees]

Thanks to @captain_WD I was able to wipe the two HDD's and use them. Problem is, I currently have x2 SSD and 1xHDD. I want to add two more and possibly run them in RAID. I was able to plug one of the additional HDD's onto my motherboard but there's only 4 SATA ports. Is there an alternative way? My other question is, am I able to RAID the two HDD's? One is a WD Caviar Black 500GB 7200rpm and the other one is a Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200rpm. Both of them are older drives so they are actually thicker but I don't think that's a concern.

[Tech_Dreamer]

i think it'll be good, &  you probably need a raid card for that & it'll be beneficial since you are adding more Harddrive to your PC.

[Guest Generallee]

Thanks to @captain_WD I was able to wipe the two HDD's and use them. Problem is, I currently have x2 SSD and 1xHDD. I want to add two more and possibly run them in RAID. I was able to plug one of the additional HDD's onto my motherboard but there's only 4 SATA ports. Is there an alternative way? My other question is, am I able to RAID the two HDD's? One is a WD Caviar Black 500GB 7200rpm and the other one is a Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200rpm. Both of them are older drives so they are actually thicker but I don't think that's a concern.

 

You could use a pcie RAID card

[ChineseChef]

The only requirements for drives in raid is that they are the same size and speed, also have to be all magnetic or all SSD.  The don't have to actually be the same size and speed, but the RAID will treat all drives as if they are the same size as the smallest one, and it will only be as fast as the slowest one.  So for your 2 drives, no issue.

 

For more ports, you have 2 options.  Software raid and hardware raid.  If you go software raid, you just need a port expander, you can get 4 port sata expander add-in cards for less than $50. 

For hardware raid, you will have to get a raid card.  Since even if your mobo supported onboard raid, you can't use the extra drives from a port expander.  You can get cheap used enterprise raid cards on ebay for $50-100, and they will do more than you could need.  Just shop around for the right kinds of features you want, this will require lots of product research on your part. 

[KayTees]

You could use a pcie RAID card

Any raid cards that are cheap and also have the ports inside and not outside.

[tmlhalo]

You'll need a RAID card to add more SATA ports. You don't have to make a RAID, you can just span 1 volume over all the drives. The fault tolerance is simple, when a drive goes down you lose that area of the span and only stuff on that particular drive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-RAID_drive_architectures

[Captain_WD]

Thanks to @captain_WD I was able to wipe the two HDD's and use them. Problem is, I currently have x2 SSD and 1xHDD. I want to add two more and possibly run them in RAID. I was able to plug one of the additional HDD's onto my motherboard but there's only 4 SATA ports. Is there an alternative way? My other question is, am I able to RAID the two HDD's? One is a WD Caviar Black 500GB 7200rpm and the other one is a Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200rpm. Both of them are older drives so they are actually thicker but I don't think that's a concern.

 

Hey KayTees,

 

Generally it is recommended to have two identical drives (same size, speed, firmware, brand, model) in order to have good and safe performance of the RAID array. If you have differences in rpm, size or transfer speed, all drives will be limited to the size of the smallest, rpm of the slowest and might cause drive drop-offs and data corruption. Also differences in firmware (different models and brands) could cause misalignment in RAID0 and again cause drive drop-offs or data corruption. 

Also I would not advise using non-NAS/RAID class drives in a RAID environment as they lack the necessary features for safe operating in such conditions. 

 

Regarding the way to do it, you can check your motherboard's manual to see if it supports RAID and do it from the BIOS. Also you can perform a software RAID. Getting a RAID controller card is also an option.

 

Captain_WD.