Looking for a good pci RAID card

bigbadgoggs

Looking to build a raid 5 array on my PC (I have had 3 hard drives go phut in the last 12 mnths!).

Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive RAID card? Preferably for SATA drives, must have at least 4 ports and allow RAID 5 configuration.

Cheers

BBG

John_Gray

Good luck!

The cheapest new card I've found on a Google search is £130, with the next (Adaptec) being well over £200. I have a two-port Promise RAID controller doing RAID-1 on a Dell.

You are going to have to have a pretty hefty power supply, and a lot of drive bays... Have you looked at buying a server, where such things are more common (admittedly usually with SCSI drives)?

John

Mr_Proctalgia

I have a Promise Fast-trak SX4 Card with 4 WD Raptors - It goes like a train and fits your specs but be aware that the card is HUGE and needs separate memory installed, I bought a Lian Li V2000 and had to use the clamp bar to hold the card in! Very neat install mind you.

bigbadgoggs

Thanks gents for your replies.

I am looking to build a server using an existing PC. It will contain only the raid array (4x160gb disks) and a DVD reader writer so hopefully the 300W PSU should be OK. The idea is to create fail safe disk space to store my music and family photos.

I have seen a 'Highpoint Rocket RAID 1640 4-channel SATA RAID 5 Host Adapter' on https://www.overclockers.co.uk for £68 ex vat. Anyone used this card before and if so, is it any good?

Also, anyone know of any good deals on SATA HDDs?

Thanks,

BBG

Phil6340

bigbadgoggs wrote:

Thanks gents for your replies.

I am looking to build a server using an existing PC. It will contain only the raid array (4x160gb disks) and a DVD reader writer so hopefully the 300W PSU should be OK. The idea is to create fail safe disk space to store my music and family photos.

I have seen a 'Highpoint Rocket RAID 1640 4-channel SATA RAID 5 Host Adapter' on https://www.overclockers.co.uk for £68 ex vat. Anyone used this card before and if so, is it any good?

Also, anyone know of any good deals on SATA HDDs?

Thanks,

BBG

I am using this card with three 36gb raptors and it has been faultless over 18 months of use. I have a 250gb sata storage drive in the fourth slot. Easy on-screen set up.

Excellent value for money.

bigbadgoggs

Cheers Phil - have you used the card on RAID 5 ?