Cheap RAID Card?

[DaShesano]

Hi All,

I've got a storage server that I've been using without RAID for far too long, and I am considering buying a used RAID card off of ebay and I am stumped between two different models. I am choosing between an LSI 9260-8i (and battery backup) or an IBM serveraid M1115 (9223-8i). However, I have heard that the IBM serveraid card does not support RAID 5 out of the box, I am wondering if this is true, and if there is a way to get around that limitation, or if I should spring for the 9260, or any other good RAID cards on the market that support RAID 5.

Thanks.

[leadeater]

If you want RAID 5/6 using a hardware RAID card then the LSI 9260-8i with BBU is really the only option. You must have functioning write-back cache to get any usable performance from RAID 5/6 on a RAID card.

 

The IBM M1115 does not have RAID 5 as standard, their is a feature upgrade to enable RAID 5 but the card does not support a battery so does not support write-back cache meaning terrible performance.

 

FYI there are tons of LSI 9260 options out there, IBM M5015/Dell H700, and LSI 9265 IMB M5110/Dell H710

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/lsi-raid-controller-and-hba-complete-listing-plus-oem-models.599/