What's the best RAID controller Solution?

[Stormblade]

Hey all,

Ok. I went a purchased the Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI RAID controller (It's still in the box). I admit I didn't do as much research on it as I have other parts. I always thought Adaptec was the top of the line but now I'm hearing other things.

http://www.attotech.com/skits.html

This controller I was told outperformed the Adaptec controller using X15s which are the drives I'll be purchasing. BUT, it only does RAID-0and RAID-1. I was a bit nervous about doing that but the performance advantage is impressive.

So I ask you guys, what should I do? Should I stick with the Adaptec Controller and run RAID-5 just for that warm fuzzy safe feeling? Or should I go with that ATTO dual channel but run RAID-0 or RAID-1 and just make frequent backups if I start to get really nervous.

The thing is, if I go RAID-5 I have to get 3 of them suckers. Going with the others I only need two and will save about $450. I can use that money and buy me a really nice tape drive for backup purposes or something.

So I have some choices to make. HALP

 

[Sunner]

More info please.
Firstly, what will you be using this setup for?
Server?
High end workstation?
"I have way too much money to spend" gaming computer?
"I definately have way too much money to spend" web surfing box?

 

[Blain]

I know this is ATA/100, and you're asking about SCSI, but still...

Even RAID 1 showed a performance increase! If you're "mirroring", why should you be nervous and worry about backups?

Just burn all your system drivers to ONE CDR. That should save you some downtime.

 

[Gunbuster]

"the Adaptec Controller" What did you buy? a model # is helpfull

I have a "amd chip" is it good?

 

[Stormblade]

<< More info please.
Firstly, what will you be using this setup for?
Server?
High end workstation?
&quot;I have way too much money to spend&quot; gaming computer?
&quot;I definately have way too much money to spend&quot; web surfing box? >>



I'd have to go with probably the last three. Although I may use it for a server that will not be it's primary function. It will be a high end workstation. I will be playing games on it and surfing and perhaps I do have way too much money to spend but I don't think so Basically I took the approach of I'm going to get the good stuff and if I have to buy it piece by piece or take out a small loan to do it.

As for the other questions, I purchased the 2100S Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI RAID controller.

 

[Noriaki]

RAID1 mirrors the data to both drives, if it's a well made controller it will read from both in stripes so it will increase read performance, but it has to write all the data to both drives so write performance will be that of a single drive. But if you want performance RAID1 really isn't the way to go....

RAID0 is a hella good performer but if one disk dies, your set dies...how important is your data...I wouldn't use RAID0 if it's that important to you.

RAID5 has some of the benefits of both, but like you said you need at least 3 drives. The choice is up to you. The RAID5 is the best option if you don't mind the extra cost.

If you don't mind the risk of data loss RAID0 on the ATTO would be quite fast.

 

[Stormblade]

Heh, that's my trouble. I want it all. I don't wanna put my data at risk. Even though I know realistically the chances of one of my drives failing any time soon are very small. In the past 5 years I haven't had a drive fail yet. But still, it just give me the creepies.

But on the other hand one of the main reasons I decided to go RAID was for better performance. Of course my better performance consists of program load times and the like rather than pure transfer rates since its not going to be used as a file server.

So my goals for RAID are

a) Speed up Windows 2000
b) Speed up application load times
c) General Disk I/O speed up

So yeah RAID-0, which I'd looked at originally, would meet the above needs I think except the risk factor. My question is this, how much performance do I sacrifice by going with RAID-5?

 

[Gunbuster]

Remember the 2100s is only 1 channel so you run fast with only HDD's or slow with cdrom, tape, ect...

 

[Ulysses]

Here's what AnandTech said in their Dec., 2000 Buyer's Guide:

SCSI RAID Adapter ? DPT SmartRAID IV Century PM2865U3 - $900:

The first name that pops to mind for SCSI adapters is, of course, Adaptec. While Adaptec didn't have an Ultra160 RAID solution at the time of publication, one of the companies they own, DPT, does offer one. The PM2865U3 is a 2 channel controller with an 80 MIPS i960 processor onboard to keep things moving along smoothly. This particular model includes 32MB of cache, but up to 128MB of cache is available. It's actually a 64-bit PCI card, but will work just fine in the 32-bit slots of our OR840 motherboard. Best of all, it supports all the OS's we want to run except BeOS.

 

[Hard_Boiled]

OK, me personally I wouldn't give a damn if it's not running Raid 5. I'd run Raid 0 and never look back, Raid 5 is for enterprises that must absolutely have data integrity or users who themselves have very important data and can't risk a hard drive failure. But realistically any new SCSI hard drives ought to last awhile unless you go smacking them around or something(I broke my Atlas 10K when I gave my case a good, really good whack. gotta love the 5 year warranty).

But, I have heard alot of grumblings and complaints from that particular SCSI card, from Storagereview where they eat drink and breathe raid. Check out there message board and make your own decision, but based on what those guys say the 2100S just aint as good as it should be.

 

[Stormblade]

Thanks all,

I've decided to return the adaptec (Unopened). I've gotten an RMA number for it and will be sending it back today. I will then get the ATTO ExpressPCI Dual Channel RAID controller (Ul3D).

Here's a review I found on it:

http://www.athlonmb.com/article-display.cfm?ArticleID=51

Although that Smart Raid is nice it's definately overkill and more money than I'm willing to spend on a RAID controller. ALthought it's tempting. Since I'm gonna run RAID-0 I will be saving about $450 and could use that to get that controller. I&quot;ll have to think on it.