what raid controller?

[Ignazio Palmisano]

John Hubbard wrote:
> Eberhard Roloff wrote:
>> Willy K. Hamra schrieb:
>>> Eberhard Roloff wrote:
>>>> Willy K. Hamra schrieb:
>>>>> uriah heep wrote:
>>>>>> I would like to set up mirroring on 2 sata WD hard drives.  Could any one
>>>>>> suggest a good low cost controller.  This is for a home computer not
>>>>>> business.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> before getting a controller, many current mother boards support RAID,
>>>>> you sure yours doesn't? what's its model?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> This imho is dangerous advice.
>>>>
>>>> Imagine you use the "internal fake raid" controller. Let's say, three 
>>>> years from now, your motherboard will fail. Usually, not a big deal 
>>>> but you will surely not be able to buy a motherboard with the same 
>>>> fake raid controller, then. Now what happens to your fake raided data?
>>>>
>>>> Well, it will be on your backup tape, if you are lucky...
>>>>
[snip]
>>
> Couldn't the same argument be made about the failure of the hardware 
> raid controller?  Will it still be available 3 years from now?  Will you 
> be able to get your data off of the array?  Are you sure that whatever 
> format it uses will be supported by what every device you try to replace 
> it with?
> 

I guess the same may be said of the hard drives this RAID should work 
with... even if the interfaces do not change in the next three years, 
it's unlikely that the available sizes will be the same, and as far as I 
understand RAID that means either you don't find the spares or your 
spares are only partially used. Also, given the need for RAID, I'd also 
guess that the OP has a policy for frequent backups and the like... so 
when one of the components fails and is not replaceable, hopefully all 
the data has been backed up somewhere else, on a support which is 
accessible...
I.