recommend a Raid 5 card

[larciel]

I was going to get 3ware 9650se 8port but after looking at review I see it doesn't have a good raid 5 write performance.

What's a good pci-e sata 8port raid card. It's going into WHS machine.

 

[Syntax Error]

Why would you use a RAID card if you're going to be using WHS? Are you going to create RAID arrays and then add the RAID array within the WHS storage pool? Or are you simply using a RAID card as a port multiplier?

 

[jkresh]

in that price range the hihgpoint 4320 is not bad (its performance is quite good, but its software and support are no where near as good as the equivalent adaptec or areca (but those cards are around $600+))

 

[larciel]

how's arc-1222 vs adaptec 3805 ? cpu spd is 800mhz vs 500mhz and price diff is marginal.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Can't really answer your question. I got Adaptec 31605 mainly because Adaptec has been around for a long time and because of the better driver support. At the time I looked at 3ware and those guys really dragged their feet updating drivers for new OS'ses, in fact last time I checked they outright refused to support all but latest and greatest cards. 8-series card? You're SOL. Screw those guys, they are not getting any of my money. Not sure about Areca. If you go with Adaptec, be aware, those cards are passive, but they run flaming hot, if you have poor case ventilation they WILL burn your fingers. I put a fan running air over it just to be on the safe side.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I picked up an 8 port SAS card that is an HP branded LSI card for $135 shipped off the FS/FT forums here. It's specs are good, and the fact it was a $450+ card for $135 was a no brainer to me. Especially since it has 1 internal and 1 external multilane port so I can use an external enclosure for 4 disks.

I have yet to use it, partially due to not having 8 disks but also partially because I'm beginning to think JBOD setup is much better because it allows me to move drives between systems without issue. Raid wouldn't allow that easily. That's just a random aside though and has no relevance to this thread.

 

[betaflame]

JBOD does not let you move freely between systems.

Independent Disks does, but file management is a nightmare. Also drive failures.

 

[pjkenned]

I am using an 31605 in my WHS box at the moment for a decent size Raid 6 array (12 1.5TB drives). First off, if you are building a WHS, with an adaptec card do one of two things:
1) Get a cheap fan with adhesive; or
2) Use a Norco 4U or other case that has fans moving air well through the case.

In my main system I have both an Adaptec 3085 and a 5805. Even with that system's focus on cooling (has a triple fan radiator just for cooling the i920 and X58) you can tell the 4U box is just a better layout airflow wise for the raid controllers.

Other thoughts:
1) Dell Perc 5/i. Cheap, however best if you aren't using an Intel chipset. They work so well that I have two with 512MB ECC in my NVIDIA box, but I don't even bother in my Intel boxes. <$200 with BBU also.
2) If you are running Raid 5 in a WHS box, how many GigE ports will you have aggregated? If it is just one, you really don't need much more than 100MB/s in bandwidth. Even the Dell Perc 5i's I use easily can saturate two GigE ports w/ Jumbo Frames reading or writing.
3) Using Raid + WHS is tricky. WHS doesn't like GPT. So you are stuck making 2TB volumes. I didn't realize this at first so I had a 10TB raid 6 array and was running out of space within a month. Once I looked at it a bit closer, I realized that 8TB was unusable, and had to break the 10TB volume into multiple 2TB ones. Do that, and manage your drives from the Adaptec Storage Manager, then let WHS do its thing. If you remember to do this you won't have to worry about a long re-config.

 

[Syntax Error]

If you plan on doing any kind of OCE with an Adaptec card, be aware that it'll take like a month to expand the array with additional drives.

 

[pjkenned]

I added a new 1.5TB drive to the 31605's Raid 6 array and it took 50 hrs. Not super short, but not super long.

 

[Emulex]

if your mobo can handle it, p400 512 bbwc (ebay) with dual 4-fan-out cables (8 connects over two sas bus).