Good Used Hardware RAID Card

[TheMadMan697]

So I am thinking of getting a hardware RAID setup and am looking for some advice. Currently I have a home file server running windows server 2012 which is hosted on VMware ESXI. I have just got a 3rd 3TB WD Red drive for my system and I was thinking of setting up 1 big storage pool using RAID 5. I don't want to be tied down by my motherboard so I want to avoid using 'Fake Raid'. 

 

From what research I have done it looks like a hardware RAID card that does what I need costs around 300 to 400$ however I have noticed some second hand RAID cards up on eBay that are Dell/IBM/Sun/HP branded but they are actually made by Adaptec and LSI and are coming in at a much lower price. So what I was wondering is can you guys recommend a particular RAID card that I may be able to pickup cheap second hand and all the features i need. It must support RAID 5 and It would be nice to have support battery backup unit as well. I am only interested in good brands like Adaptec/LSI

 

My other option would be to use a Linux distro, Perhaps FreeNas and then use software RAID in the operating system. What do you guys think?

 

 

[sanderdegrote]

Maybe this one for $180? : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118129

I'm not sure if there's a battery available for this model.

[N7_Zer0]

There is no BBU for the 9240 model. There's one for the 9260 though.

 

Software RAID-5 would be dreadfully slow I would think, no?

[TheMadMan697]

Maybe this one for $180? : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118129

I'm not sure if there's a battery available for this model.

 

 

There is no BBU for the 9240 model. There's one for the 9260 though.

 

Software RAID-5 would be dreadfully slow I would think, no?

 

Tks guys. I Had a look at the 9240 and 9260. On first look there isn't any that are majorly cheap on eBay but I will definitely to some research on them. (Note I am in Europe so I cant buy from newegg/ncix)

[N7_Zer0]

Tks guys. I Had a look at the 9240 and 9260. On first look there isn't any that are majorly cheap on eBay but I will definitely to some research on them. (Note I am in Europe so I cant buy from newegg/ncix)

 

Don't get the 9240 even if it's cheap, it's very very slow. It does not have ANY onboard cache.

[wpirobotbuilder]

So I am thinking of getting a hardware RAID setup and am looking for some advice. Currently I have a home file server running windows server 2012 which is hosted on VMware ESXI. I have just got a 3rd 3TB WD Red drive for my system and I was thinking of setting up 1 big storage pool using RAID 5. I don't want to be tied down by my motherboard so I want to avoid using 'Fake Raid'. 

 

From what research I have done it looks like a hardware RAID card that does what I need costs around 300 to 400$ however I have noticed some second hand RAID cards up on eBay that are Dell/IBM/Sun/HP branded but they are actually made by Adaptec and LSI and are coming in at a much lower price. So what I was wondering is can you guys recommend a particular RAID card that I may be able to pickup cheap second hand and all the features i need. It must support RAID 5 and It would be nice to have support battery backup unit as well. I am only interested in good brands like Adaptec/LSI

 

My other option would be to use a Linux distro, Perhaps FreeNas and then use software RAID in the operating system. What do you guys think?

If you go the FreeNAS or Linux with ZFS, then pick up either the LSI 9211-4i or LSI 9211-8i, depending on how many drives you need. It's cheap, very reliable and perfect for ZFS systems (only really useful as a host bus adapter).