Best RAID Card?

[Redfern]

Hi, I have these three options for a RAID card/controller. Some of them have SAS connections but I can get a adapter for around £5-10 and I won't be getting the cards from these websites as I've found all of them for £20, so I wondered which is the best one, thank you.

 

HP: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-4-Port-PCI-X-SATA-Server-Raid-Controller-Card-370901-001-373013-001-Cables-/221688944228

DELL: http://store.flagshiptech.com/dell-jw063-0jw063-poweredge-sas-6-ir-raid-controller-adapter-card/

LSI: http://www.amazon.com/SAS3442E-R-Raid-8PORT-Pcie-ROHS6/dp/B0012VL3S4

 

I was thinking the LSI one? Thanks

[Juanse]

Well, linus has been using the LSI one on the servers, so maybe ga with that, keep in mind that actually anything can fail

[Oshino Shinobu]

These are all SATA 2 RAID cards. If it's for you board in your signature, then you'd be better off using the board's RAID controller with the SATA 3 ports. 

[Redfern]

11 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

These are all SATA 2 RAID cards. If it's for you board in your signature, then you'd be better off using the board's RAID controller with the SATA 3 ports. 

What do i look for in SATA 3 cards, also its not for that board:)

[Redfern]

16 minutes ago, Juanse said:

Well, linus has been using the LSI one on the servers, so maybe ga with that, keep in mind that actually anything can fail

How about this one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dynamode-PCI-SATA3-RAID-RAID-3-Port-SATA-PCI-Card-/381121064363?hash=item58bc95edab:g:qSMAAOSw1vlUs~JK

[Jarsky]

The HP is a PCI-X card, you need a PCI-X port on your board for that

The Dell card only supports RAID 1 & 0 and is SATA2

The LSI card only supports RAID 1 & 0 and is SATA2

The Dynamode card only has 3 ports so a max of 3 drives, and again only RAID 1 & 0 and it appears to be PCI, so you need an older PCI slot

 

what are you trying to setup?

[Redfern]

Just now, Jarsky said:

The HP is a PCI-X card, you need a PCI-X port on your board for that

The Dell card only supports RAID 1 & 0 and is SATA2

The LSI card only supports RAID 1 & 0 and is SATA2

The Dynamode card only has 3 ports so a max of 3 drives

 

what are you trying to setup?

Im trying to setup a basic raid array atm but would like to expand in the future and trying yo get one for a reasonable price, any suggestions? Cheers

[Jarsky]

So there are a few problems with doing RAID on the cheap. A decent RAID card should be able to do parity raids or more advanced raid than just 0&1 e.g 5,6,10,50.

The advantage to hardware RAID is many cards can expand arrays - but its hard to find a reasonable RAID card that is as cheap as what you're after.

 

For 'cheap' builds, its typically better to use onboard connectors or go an HBA and using Software RAID as the HBA cards are often considerably cheaper

 

Some suggestions for RAID?

 

This one does RAID 0,1,5,6,10, 50,60, has onboard memory & battery backup and can run 8 drives for £35

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Smart-Array-P410-512MB-SAS-With-FBWC-PCI-E-x8-SAS-Raid-Controller-462919-001-/172046104793?hash=item280ebf38d9:g:eW4AAOSwZ1lWhAnG

This one does RAID 0,1,5,6 & has onboard memory & battery backup and can run 8 drives for £50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adaptec-ASR-5805-512MB-8-Port-PCI-e-SAS-RAID-Controller-2244100-R-w-battery-/221596561828?hash=item33982f31a4:g:6-8AAOSwmUdUWrV6

 

[Redfern]

1 hour ago, Jarsky said:

So there are a few problems with doing RAID on the cheap. A decent RAID card should be able to do parity raids or more advanced raid than just 0&1 e.g 5,6,10,50.

The advantage to hardware RAID is many cards can expand arrays - but its hard to find a reasonable RAID card that is as cheap as what you're after.

 

For 'cheap' builds, its typically better to use onboard connectors or go an HBA and using Software RAID as the HBA cards are often considerably cheaper

 

Some suggestions for RAID?

 

This one does RAID 0,1,5,6,10, 50,60, has onboard memory & battery backup and can run 8 drives for £35

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Smart-Array-P410-512MB-SAS-With-FBWC-PCI-E-x8-SAS-Raid-Controller-462919-001-/172046104793?hash=item280ebf38d9:g:eW4AAOSwZ1lWhAnG

This one does RAID 0,1,5,6 & has onboard memory & battery backup and can run 8 drives for £50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adaptec-ASR-5805-512MB-8-Port-PCI-e-SAS-RAID-Controller-2244100-R-w-battery-/221596561828?hash=item33982f31a4:g:6-8AAOSwmUdUWrV6

 

Thank you, how about this card? http://www.startech.com/uk/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/2-Port-PCI-Express-SATA-6-Gbps-Controller-Card~PEXSAT32

[Jarsky]

1 hour ago, Redfern said:

Thank you, how about this card? http://www.startech.com/uk/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/2-Port-PCI-Express-SATA-6-Gbps-Controller-Card~PEXSAT32

 

Its a basic SATA card which can do RAID 0 and 1 only with 2 disks only....rather lacking in feature.

 

These cheap cards you're linking aren't really RAID cards, they're SATA expansion cards, that are capable of a basic RAID 0 or 1. I'd be very careful about doing RAID on cards like these....

 

[Kadah]

Those all look pretty old and I doubt any support 3TB+ drives.

 

What is it going to be used for? Expected storage size? Etc